


Howling Heir

by VoodooArticle



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angst, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Competition, F/F, F/M, Friendship, M/M, Mentions of Rape, Pack Bonding, Rage, THIS IS MY FIRST TIME DON'T JUDGE., Teenage Rebellion, Trans Character, Triggers just a bit of em., Werewolf Jade, Werewolf Jane, Werewolf John, Yes they are furries Dave, a hint of sadness, all the teenage fluffies, bites, cannibalistic cats, holy shits, hot damns, kidnappings, trolls are human, werewolf Jake
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-01 02:03:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4001704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoodooArticle/pseuds/VoodooArticle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you moved to this boring, yet creepy town up in the dark woods with the Lalondes, you expected your life to be less than it was, especially since the school pushed you into this weird as hell field trip. Your name is DAVE STRIDER, and after the bus crash you haven't been the same...</p><p>When you wished for a more exciting life within the territory while you wait to present you NEVER expected to find a busload of trouble coming your way, especially when your, 'busload of trouble' is now apart of the new pack everyone's talking about. Your name is, JOHN EGBERT and you can't just let this happen...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Paranoia Smells  Like Rain.

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings ppl, thanks for even LOOKING at my story, I'm trying to make it as long as possible and drag you guys along with me, I will TRY to be a good author and update once a week, maybe twice if I'm feeling spiffy, so please bare with me if its later than usual. Also, this is my first official fanfic, so I'm pretty excited, ya know! so please again, bare with me and comment, No badtalking, I don't need that shit up in my thinkpan kay. Please enjoy! And have a nice day! ;B

He needed to keep running, but he felt so tired and his feet were quite heavy as struggled to keep from falling in the rough, thick mud, undergrowth, and twisting roots. He ran across the underbrush and into a clearing then collapsed upon the tall stinging grasses near the edge. They'd find him soon, but laying down was bliss, and he couldn't take another step, he was so sleepy, yet so restless. And, NO, looking back had never been an option, at least not anymore, this was now his life.

Once upon a time, he could of looked back, smile at his pursuers, talk to them casually, as if all of the familiar blood on his hands wasn't there. At one point he thought he did remember such a pleasant, yet foreboding time. But now all he could do was regret recollecting the painful memories in the first place. Maybe, just maybe he could laugh, smirk, and know them again, if they could only understand. But they'd never understand, instead they'd see him like a monstrosity, like a freak. Like what he now was...  
It all started with a boy, this boy's name was DAVE STRIDER, and he ran straight into woods at the first chance he got- as did all of the scared shitless escapees- but fuck them, like hell he was scared, escape just seemed like the only option most of them had- all of the others who delved too deeply into the unknown; but how could of any of them even fucking know what they got themselves into. They couldn't even fathom that any of this was going to happen...  
Sure, Dave had heard stories of the supernatural that decorated these parts with folklore to start childish paranoia and curiosities; the kind of weird shit that only happened to naive and totally blind protagonists in fairy tales.  
But how in the hell, could he have missed this. He felt like a kid who just walked into a shady van because an old guy promised him some quality candy, except right now there was no candy. No, he didn't get his fucking apple flavored lollipop, all he got was just, a pure terrifying experience that he'd never forget.  
Cept, he didn't get scared- Striders never got scared. Maybe a little unsettled, yes.  
It all started when his bro, lost his DJ job at the local night club back in the city, its not like it did much to pay the rent already, but once bro was dropped the bitchy landlord kicked them out at the first chance he got, saying he was sick of their shenanigans, loud music, and relentless roof top battles, scaring the neighbors straight.  
So the first option- after the landlord's ass got handed to him by bro- was to sit on the street like the homeless saps they were, or the second to move to the Lalonde's residence.  
They picked the latter of course, nothing better than spending 'family time' with their psychological analysts, constant alcohol consuming, and cat loving sisters. Everyone knew shenanigans were bound to ensue in the very house.

Dave always knew the town was weird, he knew that as soon as they moved here. Hell, there were crows at every corner, never cawing, just silently sitting on the electrical lines watching anyone and everyone. The creepy bastards; Dave watched as their heads followed him like surveillance cameras outside the Lalonde manor, and he thought for a moment if they were mocking him, then threw a rock to scare the black birds away. They laughed then, he could hear their hoarse caws fading as they flew into the distance, leaving their shitty feathers trailing behind.

Dave quietly groaned to himself, great, now he was getting all paranoid- like some old madman throwing rocks at the birds, just like one would wave his cane at the kids in his lawn, except, oh right. Those kiddos were birds.

Eventually Dave quickly got used to the place and the people who lived here all with their own stories of how they all ended up in the small shitty town of Sburb.  
Sure the people were nice and even though it was cold as fuck up here, the snow was pretty cool, but nothing here seemed the same...  
He would never tell anyone, but, he missed home. And he missed the Texan heat, the annoying city, and his crows and all their ornery noises- not these damn creepy ones. This town was so cold and faded like a rose that lost its color or was washed by the rain too many times over.  
The small town was surrounded by a completely endless ominous forest which grew up Mt. Bec; plus the next town over was 5 long hours away and this town didn't have much to offer besides one school and a couple of old family restaurants and slow shops. Plus the one pizza place here sucked, couldn't a guy just get some decent pizza around here?

Ever since he moved here Dave had never felt so secluded and bored in his life. The only reason him and his bros moved here is because the Lalondes had invited them in with 'open arms' (no wait, actually he remembers, one, holding a martini glass of wine while doing this) but otherwise, just what the Striders really needed, especially after bro flipped his shit about losing his job and needing a vacation -up in the secluded dark town, surrounded by miles of untouched forest and the damn place looked like something out of a dreary horror film. . .  
dang bro, best vacation and moving choice of the year.

But soon, about two months in, Dave's second year of high school had started, as slowly as ever too, but he had Rose, Roxy, Dirk, and new friends to mingle and grow with, and as of today his small- like man this school was tiny- class was having a field trip up to the old cabins near Mt. Bec, to research some of the shitty plants, follow deer tracks, and maybe hug a tree or two, like the fucking boy scouts they were.  
Yep everything was going swell, no problems here, at least until the nightmares started, snapping jaws, sharp teeth, blood, and ear throbbing screams infiltrated his sleep each night- always the same, always shocking him out of his slumber and back into reality with a banging migraine most of the time- And those vast blue eyes he never could forget and- he needed to stop dwelling on it, so he pushed the thoughts and images to the back of his head to rot there.  
Dave boarded the bus, and had quickly forgotten what he was just thinking about. But that didn't matter now.  
Since he now had the nagging suspicion that something was out of place as he sat at the first seat his eyes fell upon. He turned his attention outside the window as Rose sat beside him and the bus engine slowly started up.  
He couldn't feel at ease ever since this trip had started and honestly he really didn't want to step on the bus in the first place, but he was here, and there were no regrets yet.  
He usually had a calm head on his shoulders, and shit usually didn't get to him like this, so he just brushed it off and put on his poker face, ignoring his stupid feelings. Everything would go smoothly and the skies would look gloomy like always...

"It seems like its going to rain soon." Rose nonchalantly murmured beside him, her smooth voice barely reaching Dave's ears over all of the other kids' voices in the stuffy bus.  
"You, thynk- think s' gonna storm bad Rosey?" Roxy drawled. Dave guessed she still had a bit of alcohol in her system, there wasn't a time when she didn't...  
Roxy sat up comfortably, looking over her seat while being tangled up in a snug pink scarf, which matched her eyes that were set upon Rose. Dirk sat quietly beside her, listening to his head phones in one ear, while attempting to fix his shades with a lone screw driver in another.  
"Hmm, seems it might, do you think its going to rain soon, Dave?" Rose then turned to Dave next, watching him with keen intent, she already could see there was something on his mind, but a little questioning to get his attention wouldn't hurt.  
But as expected, Dave's mind was elsewhere, he was listening to the small thrum of the buses' engine, lulling him into a calm state as he stared outside a window, watching as the tall trees flew by, with a solemn look on his face.  
Rose faintly smirked, and gently tapped his shoulder, making him turn to face her- his facade as unreadable as always, then replied with a simple, and flattening, "What."  
"Dear brother, is there something on your mind?" Rose quizzically asked, and Dave could feel her peering into his very soul examining every bit like a picture book.

Dave tried not to frown, but she could already read him like a open book, and now even Dirk was watching from the corner of his eyes, his orange irises on his broken shades but his attention on the conversation at hand, Dave knew he had been zoning out again, it had been getting worse as of today...  
"Oh its nothing, dearest sister, the trees outside just seem really enticing today, these trees are like the finest of lady trees and not gazing upon them would just be like kicking a puppy into a ditch and screaming goal, like a fucking generic asshole born and taught on the planet Uranus and raised by the biggest of fart spewing assholes."

"Smooth Dave," Rose said as her violet eyes examined him like a apple ripe for picking. He was rambling- it was such a bad habit he knew he had, he already knew it was going to be a very stressful and long day.  
"Wow Uranus really? Distracted much Dave?" Dirk smirked and he WAS listening after all.  
"Shut up, its none of your business dude." Dave said coolly, while Roxy giggled and Rose raised a eyebrow with a ghostly smile written across her mouth.  
"You seem tense Dave."  
"Nice assumption Doc."  
"If it's true Dave, you can tell me." Rose kept going, her violet eyes set in a steely determination.  
"No its just that I forgot to feed the cats this morning and I'm worried if Mr. Cuddlesworth is a cannibal, from some recent behavior."  
"Roxy fed the cats this morning and yes, that is some alarming behavior he practices in, just like your zoning out earlier, care to explain, or perhaps share?"  
. . .  
"I hide no secrets from my dear little sister, what kind of charming man do you take me for? You really do hurt me." Dave smirked.  
"Pfft charming? Your more like baby cute Davey." Roxy grinned, and Dirk rolled his eyes.  
"David." Rose said, as a thick electric tension filled the air and their stare down continued, to see who'd break first. He was really to used to this familiar family tension, it was like a battle ground in your own fucking minds most of the time. Plus he hated it when she used his nickname for times like these, so why not use hers?

"Rosaline." Dave put on his poker face, his mouth turning into a thin line to show he was serious and that he wasn't going to crack, and he met Roses eyes from behind the shades staring her down until she gave in and sighed. Closing her eyes in a slight annoyance, and then she looked back to Dave, "Dave I just asked whether you thought it was going to rain and cared to give an answer, but you've been unattainable all day and very quiet, are you certain you wouldn't like to share the issue?"  
He knew she was concerned after she found out about the nightmares but he was honestly fine. Well not completely.  
"Just tired, when are we even arriving at this fucking place?" Dave asked. He didn't look back at her, refusing to meet her disappointed eyes.  
And then as if on queue, the rain started to fall. At first it fell in little droplets, quickly turning into a thick, heavy rain. And as soon as it started one of the volunteer chaperones stood from his spot in the back- Mr. Vantas- Dave suddenly wished he brought his headphones with him on this trip up the mountain to drown out the noise, Mr. Vantas had a bad habit of lecturing and about any unsettling or triggering things- which might as well be everything, for a moment Dave almost felt bad for Karkat, the boy who had to live with Kankri for his entire life. Talk about bothersome.  
"Okay, young adolescents of Skaia High, I would like to ask you to please quiet down and listen to the proper instructions to this very educational activity, as we shall be arriving to the camping site rather shortly; which by shortly I mean another two hours- I would like to advise no one to trigger anyone or anything else in any upsetting way, now for the important instructions and advise..."  
Dave watched Kankri bring out an old and fucking huge manual of, "Camping and The Research of Plant Diversity Instructions" and Dave silently groaned inside as he read.  
This would take awhile, and the rain outside was really coming down, it seemed like Rose was right about it this time, but he didn't remember a time when she wasn't right.  
Drowning out the sound of talk and lecturing, Dave glanced over to the rest of the chaperones behind the Vantas, six of the volunteers sat in their comfortable space some more annoyed by Kankri's continued blabbering while others quite amused.  
In the furthest back of the group of adults was Cronus Ampora- Eridan's brother; who was a constant player, and dick extraordinaire, if Dave remembered correctly, and was intently staring at Kankri's ass.  
Although Karkat did mention to Dave that Kankri and Cro were getting closer than he personally liked, but Dave didn't expect the two to actually go out, since Cro seemed to be a lost cause.  
Next to Cronus was Mr. Captor- or Mituna, as Sollux- the computer kid from Dave's biology class, called him.  
The guy didn't look so good though, instead he was fidgeting around like if something was about to pounce on him, Sollux said that Mituna absolutely hated vehicles after an accident as a kid, that led to some severe damage. Dave watched as he held onto his phone for dear life, and couldn't help to almost pity the guy.  
And in the seats across from them was Porrim, Meulin, and then Horrus- who was barely hanging off the seat, sweating a bit from the ledge while keeping himself upright, while Meulin stared out the window and Porrim read another magazine in between the both of them.

Coach Noir, The gym teacher, was driving bus with quite a grimace and a growing headache, the road was getting slick with all this rain and he he could faintly hear thunder in the distance, but like hell a little rain was going to distract him, he really wanted to slit all these loud kids throats to make them shut up... but, had to look good in front of miss Paint, after all.  
Dave went back to looking out of the wet window before he heard a long line of loud swears from behind his seat- it meant only one thing- Karkat.

"I swear to Gog if this fucking trip lasts one damn second over the time limit, I will shove Kankri's fat tongue so far up his ass he'll be tasting his own shit spewing instructions he made us listen to."  
Dave could hear Kanaya gently scold Karkat and he almost smirks to the shouty boy's rambling protests,

"Well, we all know why you never shut up either Karkles, you were practically raised by the guy, must run in the genes." Dave says and Karkat glares up at him from the ledge of his seat, the bus had gotten warmer and darker as the rain clouds blocked out the sun and the steady yet warm breathing of the passengers had made the bus even more suffocating and heated than it needed to be.

"Hey Strider I don't exactly remember inviting any damn annoying remarks from your gaping shout hole, also just because Kankri raised me doesn't mean I do any fucking thing like him, got that? I'm surprised a stupid shitstain like you could even cook up such an assumption in your fucked up thinkpan."  
Dave rolled his eyes behind his aviators, Karkat could really fucking preach when he wanted to, but it wouldn't be as interesting without the creative slander. But seriously the two had to be related.  
But just as Dave was going to feed Karkat some more of his snark he caught a glance of something BIG and black- darker than the shadows, black- flash in the corner of his eye, just outside of the window, and stopped,  
"What the fuck Strider, are you just going to now put up with my shit like a complete chump now? I mean I thought you were more of a douche than that." Karkat talked on, not completely sure what the hold up was for. But he didn't really care either way.

Another flash, Dave could see it in the tree line beside the bus, quickly moving and making quick even footsteps throughout the undergrowth occasionally getting closer to the edge of the forest and closer to the road, he couldn't think of what it was- whatever it could be it was quick, and massive like a bear, Dave wondered if it was a bear before he glanced away and swung his head to interrupt Rose who seemed to be having a conversation about the dark gods with Kanaya. 

"Say, are bears known to be in this area? Were talking about some pretty damn fast ones too, like ones that could fucking keep up with a bus fast." Dave asked. Still processing himself what he had just asked. It probably sounded ridiculous, but it was important.  
Everyone went quiet including Karkat and Kanaya, until Karkat practically screeched, "What the hell Dave!" His face matching Rose's, who looked at Dave with concern and was about to answer before one of the kids from the other side of the bus yelled,  
"Woah, what's that?"  
And suddenly everyone leaned to the windows trying to catch a peek and Dave squeezed past Rose to glance.  
There were more shadows, five, seven, then eight Appeared flashing through the trees and forest for only a couple of moments before disappearing again, then peeking back into the buses view, everyone had seemed mesmerized by the movements and Dave noticed there were three other shadows on his side of the bus too, including the first one he saw from earlier.  
That's when it hit him that they were surrounded, and a sinking feeling in his gut told him that this wasn't a flock of innocent Bambi's- not with that size nor speed.  
He wasn't the only one who noticed either, since Horuss quickly stood up from his seat in the back and spoke rather nervously to the expectant teens, "Excuse me everyone, but, uh please sit back in your seats, this could be very dangerous-"  
But Dave tuned out from Horuss, as his eyes were still glued to the window as well as now Dirk's and they quickly glanced at one other, reading each other's faces in the dim light which reflected off their shades, Dirk looked tense but seemed overall calm, while Dave couldn't say he wasn't the same. Dave quickly glanced back at the first shadow again, seeing as it moved closer, he held a breath. The bad feeling in his gut wouldn't go away and he suddenly regretted not bringing at least one of his shitty swords with him...

"Boss whadda want to do, we've been following the humans since they drove outside of town and now we show ourselves?" Growls a small gray wolf running along the tree line, letting the mud, sweat, and rain slick his fur back just the way he liked it, "well?" He said as he panted and ran.  
A dark and merciless laughter left the leading she wolf's sharp jaws and her eyes were set on the bus carrying all the delectable fresh meat with a new found amusement, she could already smell the blood and fire, besides her pack wasn't gonna get any bigger without a little push, right? Why not take what was offered. She was the Alpha after all. And so as she thought of all the fun ways to crush the vehicle, she finally decided. she answered with a sickly sweet and simple,  
"We crash em' of course."

When Dave looked back his eyes met with a massive black Wolf who almost glimmered in the blinding rain. It was now running beside the bus on the wet pavement, and his eyes were locked upon its huge fuchsia eyes, which were bright, terrifying and menacingly beautiful in the casting dark. Suddenly a wave of fear overcame Dave and made him rigid he clenched his teeth as he watched the wolf wear a grin-like expression upon its dark face, showing off her rows of perfect fangs which were probably sharper than anyone of his shitty swords ever could be, and unsurprisingly they were ready to draw blood and bite. Dave shivered. "What the hell..."  
He could see nothing but those eyes and hear nothing but the hushed breathing of everyone on the bus, and before they all knew it she caught up and jumped right in front of the bus taking it head on, before the bus skirted towards the side and the loud screech of rubber burning on concrete woke him back up out of his daze.  
A powerful push from the wolves on the other side quickly tipped the beaten bus onto its side and suddenly it was slowly falling into forest and down a steady slope making the worst of creaking sounds as they all tipped over terrified.  
Dave braced himself but was quickly slammed against everything and anything being swung at him every which way by the collisions, like small earthquakes erupting from the bursting impacts of the countless trees. The windows were instantly shattered with an ear deafening noise but the screams were much, much worse, filling his ears in the agony and pain of others and before he knew it some of the screams had been his own. 

He needed this to stop, he wanted this to end but the bus kept rolling down and his body flung painfully through the masses,  
crack over scream,  
Scrape, split and shatter, and more endless screams.  
The hundredth sight of blood and a loud crack from his own arm made his world black out in a quick stab of pain. The bus had finally stopped rolling. And Dave had been unconscious long before the bus had stopped moving.

The only noise was the rain... thunder.. And the faint howling in the distance...  
"Alright boys let's fish out some good ones shall we? Can't let em spoil." A dark womanly voice rang out from the shadows as more wolves lurked forward to analyze the scene sniffing at the thick blood in the air. The fuchsia eyed wolf finally locked onto her awaited prey and new recruiters, some already stirring among the rubble. Things were going perfectly swell.  
It was going to be a long day and Dave knew it.


	2. The Boy Who Cried Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ooohoho, I wonder what's going to happen? Get your poppity corn. I might summarize it for you.  
> Nah Jk I hate spoliers. I apologize before...Everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay I'm sorry I kept you guys waiting! it's been a busy week, trust me, and I'm planning all of this along as I write, so if its slow on updates like I said I'm pretty new at this and plus I'm a slow writer, please forgive me. Today I just got a new computer so haha, hell yes! no more writing on my shitty phone! I also figured out how to use effects like italics in crap- yeah I was pretty slow figuring things out. >_  
> Also I also apologize if my writing is a little confusing or rough around the edges- its very hard for me to focus on the topic at hand sometimes (ALOT). ALMOST DONE, I just wanted to also say in the first chapter I changed the mention of Slick to Noir, because in this story, rather than them being alternate versions like in the Original Homestuck, they are the same person in this Fanfic but he isn't called Spades Slick until much later- so until Then he's called Noir. I'm sorry for any errors. Haha, anyway thanks for reading.

Something about this routine was somewhat, familiar, and worn out to Dave. Wake up, get ready, avoid his family's constant shenanigans for the current morning, eat breakfast, then go to school, die of boredom, die for about the third time of the day - then after some shitty lunch, he finishes up school and heads home, back to the safety of his room, avoiding any and all human contact from that point on. At least that's what he did every other day, but today, he had a field trip- a new pain in the ass to cope with for the meantime, maybe he'd even enjoy himself if it wasn't for the nagging feeling of - danger? Or paranoia? Whatever it was, it wasn't like it'd get to him. _Right_  
it wouldn't prove to be a problem.. 

Dave turned around, facing the bus that stood before him. He couldn't keep the nagging teachers and his pessimistic pals waiting. Truth be told he really didn't want to get on this bus- but something told him he didn't really have a choice in the first place. So he guessed he had to Right? As he stepped closer to the bus, he wondered why he felt like he was making the wrong decision? But even so, he came closer to the bus, feeling the warmth of the exhaust, with an unknown force was nagging him to come closer. The doors swung open, as expected, and he'd probably be a little 'enthusiastic' about it if the little voice in the back of his head didn't keep bothering him, but what was wrong with taking this path? The warmth and the faint whispery voices coming from inside nudged Dave to come closer and catch a taste of what awaited him at his destination, everything would be fine. Dave looked off to the side, glancing at the chilling breeze swirl around the fall leaves, making them dance on the frosty pavement's surface. His eyes focused into the distance when he noticed somthing whiter than the snow and steadily standing in the far off clearing . It was staring straight towards him, and looked like a dog...? No it was _Wolf..._ How could he forget? The voice grew much louder this time and he realized it was never his, " _They're waiting- join us."_ Dave ignored the voices, this was different, it was new. It was _warmer._ its eyes where right on Dave, and he felt like deja vu hit him all over again- but then the voices got angrier and Dave shudders. But those warm, intense _red_ eyes make him feel like he'd melt in this cold, and he takes a step towards the mysterious animal, before he's forcibly pulled into the bus by someone he couldn't see. When he looks around in the dark bus he sees _blood._ blood splattered everywhere and grotesque bodies with blurred faces start to stand up, reaching for him; trying to pull him closer into the darkness where the growing heat he had mistaken for warmth is pulsating in thick heavy waves, threating to burn him. His friends stare at him with radiating eyes, with sharp teeth, and hungry stares- and when he tries to run outside he gets slammed onto the ground by something big, something he couldn't see coming and when he looks up and blinks- he's looking straight at himself and his own, red _Pulsating_ eyes.

•°•

Dave stirred. An occasional creak, followed by a thump or shallow, uneven breath, was muttered from within the buses depths- something felt wrong. The air was too thick and smelled of too many faint coppery scents, gasoline, and grimy sweat- maybe it was just his imagination, but he felt like he wasn't at home in bed like he should have been.

A young man woke up from his 'enjoyed slumber', at first in a drowsy, but unaware state, but then suddenly feeling very freaked out about the situation- after realizing that he wasn't in his fuzzy pony pajamas (for ironic purposes), at home, nor sleeping in his bed, but rather on the cold metal floor of a fucking crashed bus.

 _Well_ , he wouldn't say freaked out, maybe just a little off put by everything that's happened. Also the huge snooze he took, rather than 'enjoyed', it was more like a upgraded and completely forced, comatose nap- that _might,_ had been caused by a lethal bus crash- and the for the worse part, something in his mind told him that so far, the little 'Fun fact' of being stranded, probably still remained unknown to the quiet town of Sburb many, many miles away. But, this wasn't _any_ young man, like previously said this kid's name was Dave, Dave Strider. And the insides of his mashed-up head felt like dizzy, and melted, brain-flavored slush. The crash proved to be _exhausting_ ; It still felt like the incident happened just _moments_ ago. He was slowly processing that he was most certainly awake and not dreaming, nor dead since it didn't seem like hell, _yet _.__

So one: he was _not_ dead... And two: this wasn't a drill; he definitely wasn't dreaming nor insane either, and batshit crazy wolves _did_ live in this shitty forest and they weren't nice, sugar-plum forest animals who craved fucking hugs, No-siree. They were evil behemoths that could seriously push a bus off the road. And yet _again,_ He was somehow alive. Breathing- existing and fully aware (No, not really, he was actually a _really_ hazy and confused) about what happened. He so needed a scout badge for this. The shiniest of them.

Dave could feel a faint breeze brush against his skin like cold finger tips, and curled in closer into himself. His current spot, which happened to be the rough, scratchy metal bus floor of course wasn't comforting, but it was enough for now. Dave shuddered, his fingers were shaking, and the constant shivering of his whole body never had seemed to cease since he had woke up- he hoped this wasn't encoded into his severely traumatized mind and soul, and that it wouldn't become a habit, since he kind of _tried_ to keep a cool posture.

He kept his eyes closed, refusing to accept shit, although It felt like the crash was still fresh in his mind, internally he knew it must have been _hours_ ago since the bus somersaulted off the road and landed wherever the hell they were now.

Dave kept skimming over the hard facts, the chances of everyone being relatively okay was unlikely and close to impossible, maybe Dirk would know the exact decimal to his fucking estimation. To be _honest_ , It was all pretty hard to swallow, and he didn't want to think it, see it, or even _be_ in this nightmare. While hesitantly leaning back, he let out a groggy groan, shivering under the unfamiliar weight of the cold scraps and glass laying around him, threatening to graze his skin. He still felt dizzy and his stomach burned with a familiar ache. He was _definitely_ going be sick. But no worries his stomach was practically made of steel, and vomiting was so not happening, not today, or ever. Although the boy's stomach grumbled in protest and the thick smell of probably death, and maybe a tint of despair that didn't make things simpler.

He eventually ended up curled up over the metal floor, tightly shutting his eyes, as he was reacquainted with his watery breakfast.

Fucking _Lucky charms_.

He would laugh at the sick irony haunting him at the moment, but he was currently and quite regrettably puking all of his insides out, while sweating fucking bullets making his hair stick to his forehead like some drunken, raunchy diva who went clubbing and ended up having _way_ to many drinks to upchuck. He never thought one could _ever_ feel so _sick,_ and dizzy in his life. The only thing closest to a feeling like this, was at that ONE time, when he had a tiny _bit_ of Mom's homemade liquor, and damn, he was out cold, after flying straight to the toilet losing all the weight his lanky body could ever sustain... Dave shivered, _Never_ again.

After what felt like countless minutes of dry heaving and coughing, he shakily recollected himself. _sure_ , his _everything_ felt like the very rainbows shitted out by the gayest of constipated and multicolored ponies, but he was stable enough to look around and test how deep the shit happening was. He thought back to how this _even_ started, all he ever wanted was to get a damn high school field trip done - so he could go home and return to being the awkward teenager he was. Was that too much to _fucking_ ask? Everything happened _way_ too fast, and _way_ to scattered for him to even puzzle back together. But at the end of it all, he had enough brains to stick the pieces back into one thing - and that one reliable thing being - That he was so royally, _screwed_.

Dave sniffed, wiping his lips from the remains of his Reunion with breakfast with a tattered sleeve, the up-heaving had left his throat burning and his mouth feeling dry and hotter than the devil's ass-crack. He rubbed at the crown of his nose up to his eyes with one shaky hand, his eyes were out in the open and they felt irritatingly naked and sensitive to the dim light seeping through the shattered windows of the bus - although, he had a feeling that his shades being missing was _not_ the worst of his problems right now or even considered up to challenging one. And speaking of problems... His forehead was bleeding. At least that's what it felt like. Dave hesitantly felt the strange ache on his face - softly touching the gash starting at the top left side of his brow stretching along under his eye. He noticeably flinched when his prodding got a little too tender and cold to the touch. That'd leave a scar.

The pale boy slightly grimaced, at least he could still, _(well barely)_ see, although his vision presented blurry and a little too bright for his liking. Like a TV screen full of static on one side, while the other was way too saturated. Dave ran a hand through his hair as he glanced in in front of himself, wincing since the sunlight was hellbent of shining straight into his overly sensitive eyes. Dave shifted as he eyed his surroundings, he was laying back, covered in something warm and gooey, it was weird, if not a bit sticky to his discomfort. Although when he looked down he nearly jumped out of his skin, it was blood. And now upon seeing it the sickly strong, coppery scent filled his nostrils and made his stomach cave in on itself in uneasiness. Following the trail of the blood he saw someone beaten to an almost unrecognizable body, _a girl?_ yes... A girl from the looks of the clothes and mangled long hair- Dave gaged, it was Casey Salamand, he'd recognize her yellow jacket anywhere, except it wasn't so yellow anymore and her limbs were so bent in ways that were unnatural. Dave had remembered Rose telling him that they were once really good friends in elementary school before he had moved here, and he remembers doing a couple of group projects with the polite girl. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair... Dave barely knew her before _this_ and he lurched back suddenly feeling depression, fear, and anger boiling up inside of him all over again... Terrified and keen on keeping the rest of his guts inside of his stomach he looked away clenching his jaw tight and choking out a small pained sound in his throat. _How many more,_ he wondered, how many more of his dead friends would look back up to him with dull dead eyes like hers? Quickly, Dave started to scoot away, leaning upwards to sit up bumping against many miscellaneous debris in discomfort, he wanted to get as far away from the other body as possible, adrenaline was rushing through his head. Plus the sight and smell of, so _much_ , blood behind him urged him to make haste and get away from this massacre on wheels. But once Dave got up and had a full view of the catastrophe, and he thought of the one girl as an insignificant thought. He was far too focused on the scene laid before him. The bus was in complete, bloody shambles and he was right in the dead center of it all. _All_ of it.

Many of his classmates - the people who were what felt like just minutes ago - breathing, _warm_ , smiling, and unharmed, _untouched_ ; they were now limp, cold, and motionless kids, heaps of bloodied scatter within the upside-down and massacred bus. Dave felt disgusted again, he didn't want to look around, but he found himself looking anyway, letting the horrific images stain and stab at his mind. He figured was also no longer in the hard and uncomfortable, leather seat he was sitting in earlier, he had been thrown to the back of the bus by all the shaking and bumping along the fall down earlier. His back was now slumped against another seat that had been ripped out of its clutches and shifted upside down, he wondered who had been sitting in this seat before and if they were still alive. God, he wondered if anyone besides himself was still even alive.

A sudden shift and murmur from the front of the bus snapped him out of his thoughts, and Dave crawled over to where he heard the muffled noise, putting pressure on his arms and crouched legs, suddenly realizing that his arm hurt more than it ought to and gasped in pain. Yep, that was definitely broken, and his fingers were slightly twisted in a way that was unnatural, colored in a numb purple along with probably the rest of his swollen arm. He guessed the scare from earlier and the vomiting had distracted him from the pain. Wincing and biting his lip, Dave crawled closer to the front with determination, it hurt like hell and crawling over the shattered glass, seats, and most likely dead bodies of his fellow classmates sickened him to the core. Even curling up and dying sounded good about right now. Sure Dirk, Bro, Rose, Roxy, and mom would miss him, maybe cry over him have some hard drinks and have a good long week or two of crying, but inside it'd hurt them, besides Dave knew Bro would totally kill him if he died, it would happen somehow.

 _Pause_ \- another faint murmur lingered from the front. Dave took it as a, "Hurry the fuck up." And did so.

 _Right_ , how could he forget? He had another classmate- or teacher- to share this hell with, there was still a chance for him to fucking get through this with at least a bit of his sanity... As Dave got closer- careful of bumping, looking at, or even touching any other bodies- he saw Rose's. She hadn't moved much from her spot were she sat beside him earlier, but by a quick glance he could tell that she was injured _bad_ from the impact.

She was covered head to toe in splatters of blood, some oozing from a huge gash by her right eye, another on her left torso flank that looked deep and her knee had a deep cut that showed some deep white shrouded by flesh - probably bone. Dave swallowed the thick bile that sat at the back of his dry throat, as he stared his best friend, _No_ , his sister. Who was splayed out before him motionless and probably close to death if she wasn't already dead. And he never in his life felt _so,_ helpless; he couldn't do a damn thing about it. He cursed, rubbing his hands through his hair, he looked again at Rose, then saw a faint twitch of her finger. She was still alive and Dave felt like his heart fucking revived after it collapsed on itself. He quickly, but gently shook her,"Rose, please. Dammit Rose wake up!" For many minutes this became a ongoing chant to Dave the only thing he could grasp onto. "Rose, fucking wake up! _Please_." And a sudden jerk of a cough left her chapped lips and her eyes winced hard before fluttering open, "Dave...?" Dave's mouth twitched, she was awake, oh thank whatever god was listening to the fucking high heavens.

"Fuck yeah, the one and only Rose, Christ on a cracker you scared me to death, but its going to be okay- its..." Dave's voice cracked near the end. His throat felt itchy, misused and he tried to keep his cool but it was quickly falling apart by the second and he knew she could tell. Rose smiled, it was the kind of sad one, but it was a relief to Dave. He saw it in her dull eyes, she already knew the situation but was pushing it all away, probably trying not to dwell too much on it, she had always been so strong Dave knew she couldn't break as easily as the next student. He helped her as she struggled to sit up, gasping in clear pain when she barely moved her knee. "Don't rush Rose, no need to bust your ass trying to get to the camp site, you over-enthusiastic student." Dave sarcastically said as she leaned back into one of the uprooted seats beside her.

"I'm glad to see you're rather stable too Dave, are the others okay?" She asked as she glanced around, seeming calm for a girl who just realized that she'd been in a terrible accident- that may, may not be caused by the giant wolves. Dave almost forgot about those fucking bastards, it was like they wanted them to purposely crash, but they were just stupid wild animals, right? Although he had a feeling that they weren't your typical neighborhood wolves, they were clever and the feeling of them watching him made him cringe. He shivered, remembering the malicious look in the Fuchsia-eyed wolf, he hoped they weren't anywhere close. Everyone here was kind of vulnerable at the moment.

Dave jumped when he heard a symphony of scratchy coughs.

 _Shit_ he got distracted again and Rose didn't look so good.

Rose was breathing heavily holding a small hand to the gash on her side trying not to irritate the small shards of glass embedded in her torso.

"I'm gonna see in anyone else is awake Rose you should rest outside." Dave said softly and Rose nodded using all of her strength to stand leaning on her one good leg while Dave supported her other side. He knew rose was in pain but leaving her in the hazardous bus wouldn't help. After going outside and letting Rose slump down upon the trunk of a giant tree nearby the wreck Dave looked around his eyes feeling free, open, and still missing of shades.

he sun was still high in the air and he guessed that it was about four or five since the morning drive had been gruesomely long. From the look of it they had tumbled a long way off road - down a large cliff-like slope to be exact - and many trees were uprooted and trampled over in the process, so Dave could definitely see were the fucking bus flew off the road and it was quite the high climb up from the looks of it. Dave sighed, this shit had quickly escalated into his life within a blink of a eye- he just hoped Roxy and Dirk were okay and hopefully everyone was still alive if possible.

Dave hesitantly reentered the creaking bus, someone had to do it and since Rose was resting, he guessed it was his fucking job, duty calls. He had to find anything - or anyone - to save and salvage and be quick too, he didn't want to see more than he already did in there. when he squeezed past the broken entrance his eyes landed on the corpse of Coach Noir, the man's face had been smashed into the steering wheel and he sat there limp and motionless with his seat belt being the only thing that kept him from falling over. Dave knew Noir to be the strict, knife-happy gym teacher who always wanted to stab Dave- or really any other kid- especially when he arrived to class late when was _all_ the time, but being fashionably late was just how it was for Dave. Dave had only survived gym class and Noir's constant terror because of Miss Paint, Coach Noir's fiancé, she was the art teacher and was the kindest soul Dave had met, plus she was the only teacher to forgive him when he was late. That's right miss Paint- Dave looked around to see her familiar bright clothing but when he came across her she was awake and breathing- and staring right back at Dave. Dave definitely did _not_ squeal like a girl nor jump back from her sight, instead his heart throbbed, both of her legs and places along her torso were shredded by the glass, and she could barely support herself to look up at Dave and she heaved with gentle but painful sounding breaths. Dave hurriedly went over to her side, hesitating before saying, "Miss Paint are you alright?" The small woman seemed to be lost in a trance before she slowly looked to Dave, "Dave, listen..." She sputtered and Dave watched with horror as she coughed a handful blood then gave him a shallow and tired smile- why was she smiling- why was she acting like it wasn't a problem. Dave couldn't stand to watch her like this. 

"It's going to be okay, please tell Noir if he's a-alive, t-that it'll be alright... it wasn't his fault. he was such a good husband..."  
Miss Paint said with her eyes watering, "I c-can't m... Move my legs. " she mumbled, with fear reflecting in her eyes. Dave crouched down next to Miss Paint frantically trying to fix this, "Miss Paint you'll get to say that to him yourself, when we get out of here and get back to class- don't say it like that- were all going to make it, Coach would never leave you." Miss Paint grabbed Dave's hand and gave it a small squeeze with the little strength she had, "I'm sorry Dave, you were such...such a good student, I-" Miss Paint took a sharp breath, "I'm so tired, please be safe, help I-Is on the way..." Miss paint said as she let go of Dave's hand and rested her head on the ground her eyes seemed distant as she closed them, "I'm just g-going to take a nap." She murmured before delving into a deep sleep. Dave watched for what felt like hours as she slept taking in shallow breaths then exhaling in even smaller ones. He didn't know how long she had but he didn't want to see her like this, she seemed so fragile and he prayed that her breaths would stay even and never stop, it was eating him alive.

Dave eventually got up when her breathing seemed stable enough and glanced out one of the cracked windows at Rose outside, the girl sighed upon the tree trunk looking pained- as long as he was in here he would have to work to make this situation better- he started by looking around.

After fumbling around trying to untangle his shoelace from under a seat, and then dragging out some back packs and looking for his phone, he came across the back, where the emergency door was busted open- or practically ripped off its hinges- and jumped down, landing in a large puddle of black shiny muck covering the ground. Under further inspection oil was spilling out from the bottom tank of the bus and with even further inspection he found suspicious footprints, boot footprints, and that made him nervous- someone who was a student had either _left_ the bus, or someone entirely different had entered. Playing in the oil puddles proved to be pretty toxic and fucking nasty so he climbed back to the bus listening to the metal under his feet creak with each step. Trying not to focus on all of the oil and blood covering and weighting the bottom of his ruined jeans and the small lakes pooling in his shoes. he started checking pulses feeling sick to his stomach as he nudged at body after body until he found Roxy and Dirk splayed out before him, Roxy facing downwards, to were Dave couldn't see her face and Dirk on his back with his shades askew.

Dave swallowed as he checked for signs of Roxy even breathing, and closed his eyes in relief as the girl took deep breaths in her sleep. She seemed to be fucking unscathed from what Dave could tell and wow, of course, she was practically unharmed other than a nose bleed and some ruffled hair...but he was otherwise glad, he couldn't bare to lose anyone today.  
Next was Dirk and damn Dave couldn't help but shiver when he saw a large and thin shard of metal stuck up in the edge of Dirk's torso, that left his back in a thick pool of blood, this seemed familiar, but Dave could only hone in to the sound of Dirk's shallow breathing. He clenched his jaw as his eyes stung, Dirk would be _fine,_ he would be fine... Dave morbidly stayed silent as he carried Roxy- not noticing the twitch of Coach Noir's body- and then, rather carefully Dirk outside, with a stoic look upon his face. Of course he wasn't careful enough since Dirk woke up with an annoyed grunt. Once Dave set him down he read his brother's expression, Dave guessed his eyes were probably wincing in pain behind the shades but his whole body expression wasn't denying the sharp pain.

"Fuck." was the only thing Dirk could say about the matter and Dave and Rose silently agreed in the calming silence, while Roxy occasionally snorted in her sleep, like she was either laughing in her sleep(?) or having one hell of a good nap. After the course of an hour plagued with the constant arguing of Rose and Dirk on what to do next, plus Roxy's snoring, Dave had dragged out a couple of other kids he vaguely recognized and were still breathing. The only people left in the bus were all-too-familiar corpses and the adults who all were alive but too hard to carry for Dave, who was damn well exhausted and cradling a numb, fractured arm.  
Karkat, Equius, Sollux, Kanaya, Nepeta, and Eridan were the breathing students dragged out of the bus, and their relative chaperones were left inside. Rose sat against the tree with a sleeping Roxy laying her head down in her lap, while Dirk grunted in pain and annoyance when he tried to contact anyone on his shades again and failed. All of their phones were no where to be found, which was fucking weird and annoying- Dave wondered if the footprints left at the back of the bus had _anything_ to do with it. He had checked the other kids pockets for any but it was like they all got up and walked away. They just _vanished_.

Karkat had woken up when Dave was carrying him out, fussing, kicking and yelling, "Fuck off you nooksniffing shitstain, I'll fucking rip out your damn eyes out if you don't let go of me this fucking instant!" Dave dropped him in front of Kanaya and Sollux as they stirred in their sleep, probably waking up from the harsh and loud tantrum they just had to listen to from Karkat.

"Dammit Strider, you fucking threw me down! And why are we out here?!" Karkat loudly shouts making the world fucking shake under Dave's feet, Its been a long time since he had been this riled up.

"Oops, dropped the bomb. listen Karkat, a mans got to rest, and you running your mouth like a squirrel on caffeine is kind of...what's the word?"

"Mettlesome?" Dirk says with a smirk.

"Perhaps very exasperating..." Rose replies.

"Would you people... Shut the FUCK up?!" Sollux leans up from the ground, now awake and practically hissing at all of them.

Everyone goes quiet again and Roxy suddenly bursts out in hysterical laughter from Rose's lap- wait how long had she been awake? Karkat audibly sighs, "All I want are some fucking answers, why did you drag us out here, and where are we?"

Dave glances around to see Kanaya is waking up too and Dave feels like he's been fucked with a rusty spoon, everyone's eyeing him, except Rose whose attention seems to be elsewhere. Dave breathes deeply, he really needs his fucking shades, it feels like they're all dissecting him here with their eyes.

"We're all out here because I didn't want anyone else to wake up in that hazardous hell hole... Nothing more to it."

Everyone just sits and thinks to themselves, and just before Karkat asks another question, Rose chimes in.

"I wonder if we'll be rescued..."

Dave stiffens, along with some of the others, "Of course, don't say such things Rose," Kanaya softly replies and Dave can see she's been filled in of the situation by Sollux who's looking at the bus from behind his cracked red and blue shades hesitantly. "I'm not quite sure yet, but the forest is quite big, and I'm worried if they _don't_ even know where we are, or our current situation yet."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, miles and miles of untamed wilderness, sounds like we won't have WiFi for awhile..." Dirk says in a sarcastic bitterness shifting in his laying position, carefully trying not to move the shard in his sticking out of his side much.  
"She's got a point, we've gotta be serious about this shit, you've all seen animal planet, we could be totally fucked." Karkat said glaring everyone in the eye as he looked around the group. "Then I hereby vote to eat Kitkat, he sounds the most delicious." Roxy says seriously and Dave cant help but laugh. "Are you fucking drunk?" Karkat inspects her and she shrugs innocently giving him a wink, "Who fucking gave her the rubbing alcohol?" "Yeah eatin KK sounds pretty good two me." Sollux snickers and Karkat rolls his eyes. "I dunno, he looks too scrawny and _premature_ for my tastes, kids got to have plenty proteins to survive in spooky forests." Dave nonchalantly adds with amusement. Karkat glares at Dave as if his eyes would shoot out laser beams and melt him or something, and Roxy giggles. Other than Dave, Rose, Dirk, and Sollux everyone seemed relatively okay and Dave had taken the first aid kit in the front of the bus since he thought everyone really needed a fix up about now.  
Dave watched as Rose gave Kanaya the box- since she was the only one with any medical experience out of all of the students. Rose stared into Kanaya's eyes sharing a hopeful look with the shaken but still graceful girl. "Rose please allow me to dress your wound, I'll try my best to treat them properly, I will treat Dirk, Sollux, and then Dave afterwards."  
Rose smiled, "Thank you Kanaya."  
"Please be gentle doc, I' have a phobia of needles" Dave said, wanting to smile at the lightened mood, but held a straight face. Rose rolled her eyes, "Needles are needed for your wounds Dave, its much top serious to be taken lightly." Dirk automatically went back to the problem at hand, "How long have we even been out here and where are our phones?" he deadpanned bringing up the groups's unforgotten problems.  


Dave figured he'd better tell them that all their phones were no where to be found before Karkat blew a fuse.

Uh, yeah, I looked but couldn't find them, its like they vanished into thin air or something, and I have a feeling a friendly ghost named fucking Casper didn't take them to play around with us. Also, I found footsteps in the back of the bus- someone either left, or _came_ to visit. The whole stalker in the woods thing doesn't add up either, unless he's like a chainsaw murderer looking to off some cliche teenage bus crash survivors who just happened to be there. Plus when we do get back we should totally just make this into a show, stranded kids versus the unforgiving wilderness- eating wild Karkats to survive and whatnot, doing what our primal monkey instincts tell us to." Dave rambled, getting a chorus of eye rolling from everyone.

"Did you really look Dave?" Rose asked, unamused. Dave was glad she was no longer coughing although he felt a twinge of sympathy when Rose sighed in relief after Kanaya finished sewing up her knee with what seemed to be a sewing needle- _ouch._  
"What the hell Rose, of _course_ I really looked, you think I was just sitting in that bus all day counting how many pieces of glass got shoved in my scarred ass from the fall?" Dave said raising an eyebrow. Dirk grunted at Dave, as Kanaya inspected his wound,  
"Sounds like shit to m-" Dirk was cut off by Kanaya slipping out the shard in his torso, with elegant precision then quickly covering it with a towel to stop the bleeding.  
Dirk bit his lip, silently seething on the inside, Dave watched as Kanaya's dainty hands plucked a thin, but sharp needle out of her sewing kit, then started wiping it down with a handkerchief dowsed in rubbing alcohol. Ah, that was going to hurt like a bitch. Although Rose had just went through the same procedure for her knee and was seemly calmed down, it was now Dirk's turn. Kanaya slipped the stringed needle through the first layer of ripped skin, earning a disgruntled, "Shit." from Dirk.

Roxy patted Dirk's shoulder casually, "It'll be fine Dirky, it's all gonna be fine, we've always been strong against the fates." Roxy said sniffling, probably trying to convince herself more than anyone else.  
"So anyway- someone came to the bus- Our bus?! And took our phones? But why?" Roxy said as she wiped the dribble of blood running down her still bleeding nose with a tissue.  
"Maybe because they don't want us to escape?" Sollux muttered, rolling his eyes like it was the simplest thing in the world.  
"Who the fuck is they?" Karkat grumbled, and Equius arose from the ground, looking sheepishly around the scraggly group then to Nepeta.  
"May I ask, what happened- and where are we?" He hesitantly asked, snapping his huge shoulders up and stretching his arms.  
"Shut up! Were trying to focus, we were dragged out of the bus by that dumbshit." Karkat snapped rubbing his temples. It was actually quite funny to watch karkat- a fucking mouse, snap at Equius- an enormous giant  
Sollux cuts Dave's thoughts again, "Are Mituna and the other adults okay?" Sollux asked with a slight nasally lisp. and again, everyone just sat in wondering silence.  
Dave nods, "Yeah, by some divine miracle bestowed by the forest deity or some shit. I checked their pulses- they were too heavy to carry so I left them in there- Oh shit, Miss. Paint is still sleeping in there- Kanaya?"  
"I'm already on it." the tall girl replied trekking over to the bus with kit in hand.

Kanaya had returned saying that Miss Paint was still sleeping and that she had lost a lot of blood and probably went through shock earlier when Dave had talked to her. Kanaya sat back down beside Rose, with unease upon her features. The group continued to talk, while Kanaya wrapped Dave's flimsy arm with gauze, she ended up making Dave a makeshift sling with just a small piece of blanket and gauze. And he gritted his teeth when she stitched up the gash on his forehead above his eye. He knew kanaya loved to sew but it was a bit creepy how good she was at sewing _skin_ back together. Reliable, if not a tad weird.

"When do you think the other students will wake?" Equius asks as he glances at an unconscious Nepeta and Eridan, worry clouds his eyes towards Nepeta and Dave can see when a guy feels stressed about his friend being in that state of, holy' shit she could be in a coma for all he knows'. "Rather soon perhaps, the day is progressing quite quickly." Rose says and Dave glances up, and wow the sun is really close to setting.

"Well, since our phones are missing and we don't have any fucking clue when a rescue team will save us damsels in distress, let's make shit happen instead of just sitting on our vulnerable and perky asses here!" Karkat decrees and Dave can't help but agree with him for once. Although he's tired, shit's not going to get itself done.  
"Okay glad to pretend you guys are listening than rather be in daydream fun-fuck town, I'll give us all respective roles to figure out how not to die and figure out what's going on. okay so Kanaya, Rose, and Eridan- if the bastard wasn't sleeping like a fucking rock- are on the 'Salvage-aid-info' crew. What is that you dumbasses ask? Its fucking what I damn well said, you girls get to go in the bus and collect as much as you can from the scene and if any godforsaken cripple is in there, save them." Karkat swallows, and Kanaya and Rose trade looks with each other and nod back to Karkat who gives them a sorry look.  
Rose woke up in the bus and reacted rather evenly but Dave has no idea how Kanaya will react to the horrific sight of all her schoolmates mutilated- but then again, she did just go in there and she saw the state Miss Paint was in...  
"Next Sollux, Dirk, and Roxy, you fuckers get to be on the Shitty-Phone-Find team, like I said, you get to solve the mystery of where our shitty phones went and kick the ass of the bastard who took them by shoving a pinecone so far up his ass his shit will smell like pine. Got it?"  
Dirk just sat there his expression unreadable while Sollux gave Karkat the bird in reply and Roxy slurred enthusiastically, "Aye, Aye captain, we'll show his ass!"  
Karkat grunted, "Good. Dirk, Sollux you fuckasses listening?"  
"It's better than fucking around I guess..." Sollux muttered. "Fine." Dirk deadpanned.  
"Good now, the foremost and final group, the locations team- yes I know the name differs, but that's not important right now! Dave, Equius, and, _fuck, she's sleeping_ Nepeta. You shitstains get to figure out where the fuck we are- and if the enemy has been spotted fucking warn us, and don't die."  
Dave spoke seeing as Karkat was ending his ramble,  
"Whoa, whoa, hold the phone Vantas, first what in the hell are you going to do? And second the who's the 'enemy'?"  
Karkat narrowed his big eyes, glaring at Dave like he was stupid, "I'm the respectable leader and I will be guiding you dumbshits out of our current and dire situation, since no one else has the the fucking mentality to get this shit done, and second the enemy, as we saw earlier, are those giant ass wolves."  
Everyone visibly tensed except Karkat himself, and Dirk. Sollux glanced around like it was going to change something, "They're still here?! What the, FUCK, KK."  
Karkat rolled his gray in' cherry eyes, "Of course there not here! They were probably scared off by the crash, we did get distracted by all the fuzzy woodland animals and sights that we almost hit one of them when the driver flew off the fucking road-"  
"No, it wasn't like that." Dave interrupts and Karkat stares.  
Dave talks on, remembering it well, "The first wolf to arrive purposefully jumped in front of the bus, I saw it."  
Everyone just stares at Dave either looks of disbelief or annoyance, while some gazes are filled with concern and just look unamused.  
"Strider are you okay, I mean I believe you buddy, wolves are fucking intelligent and shit but think realistically-" Karkat said, quirking a brow and looking concerned.  
Honestly it made Dave's head hurt, none of the others saw it? "Karkat I'm not some mental patient in the 'moment', its true, it had fuchsia eyes and sharp teeth an everything wolfish and it looked like it fucking knew what it was doing."  
Sollux brusts out laughing and Dave really can't keep a calm demeanor much longer, but he gets a bit flustered because why won't they believe him?!  
Rose looks at him with questionable concern, "Dave maybe you should rest..."  
"Dirk saw it too, didn't you bro?" Dave says looking towards his brother with confidence, he remembers them _both_ looking into the beasts fiery periwinkle eyes, as funny and _insane_ as that might sound.  
Dirk looks at Dave with no emotions betraying him whatsoever and looks up to Dave saying, "Nope, don't remember any evil suicide wolves rambunctiously jumping in front of school buses, all I saw was frolicking wolves just trying to get out of the way." He says, and Dave watches the corner of his mouth twitch in amusement, what the fuck?  
"Are you sure your okay Dave, you seem a little _off edge_." His words are like venom Dave's ears, and he can't believe what Dirks saying- No, he _can-_ he's known the asshole since forever, he should of expected this.  
"Oh Dave I forgot! Silly me, anyway here you go sweetie, they might be a lil cracked but, still worth it right?" Roxy said as she handed over Dave's shades trying to lighten up his mood. Dave stares at the shades in hidden disbelief, "Where did you-" "Shhh! its a _secret_." Roxy smiles and winks, as Dave slips on the shades, feeling the familiar weight on his eyes, and he relaxes a bit. "Thanks Rox, I was dying without them." Dave says trying not to smile. Maybe today wont we be such a bad day. Karkat claps his hands and rubs them together, "Well, that settles that, let's get going we don't have all day to fucking cry wolf..."  
°•°  


Dave, Equius, and Karkat where currently making their way up the steep slope to eventually get onto the road, with little progress, they got a lot of strained muscles, and clinging mud up their wet shoes.  
Even though it was fall- _which honestly didn't help with the chills and everything-_ the strenuous climb for both of the, 'out of fucking shape' boys- Karkat and Dave was even more exhausting and the climb left them sweating like pigs.While Equius, well, he was fucking built like a tank so he couldn't complain, but he still sweated damn puddles.

Dave looked behind him, the little hill they've overcome was just a baby step, and who knows if any rescue will ever come. Looking at the trampled trees now, Dave realized the bus fell a _long_ way. and from the slight hill he can see the others scattered to carry out their 'important' jobs, damn how did this turn into a fucking episode of survive the wilderness? Is that even a real show? He thinks so, but hasn't gotten in touch with TV, or anything really, in the last three hours of his life.  
Shortly after they disembarked toward the road, Eridan followed by Nepeta woke up, both with some mild bruises and nicks but otherwise fine. and then probably an hour after, Horuss and Cronus woke up only harboring small wounds too, after getting in touch with the situation they carried the other adults outside then disappeared by the back of the bus to probably investigate.  
Karkat kept looking back, as if someone had already killed another person, and Dave could see the stress eating away at the smaller boy's mind, plus Equius kept insisting that he needed to go and check on Nepeta, and his permission was rejected of course, by their wise and faithful (asshole) leader, Karkat.  


Dirk the traitor, as Dave referred to him, was tracking his phone with the tracking application installed in his shades and was somewhere with his crew within the the wilderness, hopefully they wouldn't run into trouble- no scratch that, hopefully _Dave_ wouldn't run into unwanted trouble.  
When Dave and the other two reach the road he's all but breathless and reeks- the oil he frolicked in earlier was still sticking to him, he was pretty sure its stained into his once white and red shirt, along with all the dirt, blood, and sweat hes picked up like a messy puppy.

The road was still slick by the hard downpour from earlier and the skid marks of where the bus swerved off the hill into the bottomless forest were stained onto the pavement. Dave looked down the endless road that was surrounded by the tall trees that thrived in this forest. The sun was upon the horizon and the sky was painted a purplish-pink which swirled around the sun back rounded by the vast endless reach of trees beneath it, Dave hated the glare the sun had on his eyes, but he had to admit, it was... Beautiful.

Dave walked a bit further down the road where he first saw the wolf show itself, it wasn't too far but it wasn't close either, while Karkat and Equius looked back down at the others down the hill, Karkat shouting something along the lines of: "Eridan shut the fuck up, your distracting the others with your complaining, even I can hear it asswipe."  
Dave smirks, Karkat has always been the mother hen of the small group they had at school, well him and Kanaya too but he's always been so headstrong about it and the very act he puts up with it.  
Dave runs a hand through his almost stark white hair, he's not sure what he'll find up here but hopefully its answers, and enough evidence to show that the wolves _did_ cause this catastrophe. He wondered why did no one else saw it, he knew Dirk _certainly_ knew. Dave had remembered looking at him and seeing the way his eyes widened when he saw _it_. He knew Dirk was an asshole and often tried to make shit get to Dave and challenge him to lose his cool, but they were stranded and better yet they all just went through a terrifying bus crash. It didn't add up- maybe Dirk was just as stressed as Dave.  


Dave sighed as he walked, shoving his hands in his damp pockets as he reached the small edge of trees he saw in the bus earlier, this is where he saw the 'big bad wolf', the perfect description of the thing that attacked earlier or should he say thing's'.  
Dave stepped into the long grass and out of the road, and strode forward, the rain's dew clinging to his jeans as he ventured into the shadowy area canopied by the pines of the trees. He looked at some in particular, noticing the shallow claw marks in the earth of where the wolves ran- huge paw marks, Dave memorized the curves as he slid a hand out of his pocket to reach down and touch the soft paw print in the earth, the print was a bit larger than his hand and about as wide as it, if he stretched out all of his fingers.  
Dave kept looking around for anything else to look for.  


He was probably too distracted when something in the underbrush of some ferns slunk out and greeted him with a deep growl.  


Dave immediately snaps around, faster than a blink of an eye. He's faced with something he can only imagine to see again in his nightmares. Big deep, _deep_ purple eyes stared right into his; it's intense, spiteful gaze. Those _sharp teeth_ curled into a lazy grin-like look. It was a Wolf.  


Dave's eyes widened like saucers, and he slowly stumbled back falling on his ass, "holy..."  


The Wolf's thunder like growl boomed in Dave's ears again and he shuddered as it stepped forward and slightly opened its massive jaws. Its growls grew louder by the seconds, erupting like firecrackers and guttural grumbles. It was big, but not as big as the fuchsia eyed wolf, he was black and had speckles of gray along the left side of his face and his along his spine.  


Dave knew that This wasn't any ordinary wolf, at least not like the ones he knew and saw as mere animals,  


This one was smart, and keen on making Dave cower, ready to _kill_ him. It eyed Dave. Opening and closing its jaws. Scanning the mortified boy like it was picking his mind apart, piece by piece. The way its glare deciphered him was absolutely terrifying, and at the same time somewhat, amazing to Dave. For a moment he wondered what the power would feel like, wolves were free, lethal, yet majestic. But his thoughts quickly clouded when he saw the black Wolf's fur bristle and his rumbling growl grow. Dave flinched gaping up at the monster.

Both of them were staring at each other for a long moment, and Dave knew he was doomed. Odd crackled Growls filled his ears and iced over every bone in his body, freezing him in place.

Eventually the guttural sounds started sounding more like- words? Dave was shocked when he barely registered the wolf's gravelly but gripping voice, **"HEY MOTHERFUCKER, go be a patient little monkey and wait back down in the ditch. if you fucking disobey, you die by the AL)(PA'S motherfucking orders."**

"What-" Dave barely could keep his stance, this _couldn't_ be happening, for moments or more he didn't know what to do.

 **"Fine DIE- more fucking FUN for me."** The wolf looked like it grinned- if it could, letting its black tongue slither on its piercingly sharp fangs with a maniac bloodlust swirling in its violaceous eyes. Dave couldn't move, and he couldn't fucking accept this. He couldn't _die_ like this.

His hand itched for the familiar feel of his sword that wasn't there and he bit his lip, frantically looking for something to grasp to as the beast stepped closer and he sat frozen and numb by fucking fear. If he ran he'd be snapped in two within a second, he had no doubts that this _thing_ could do that. He had to be careful with this one, it wasn't bro he was up against.

All he could think was: _imgoingtoDie,imgoingtoDie,imgoingto-_

"-Dave, where the fuck are you?" A shrill voice echoed, and Dave could recognize the scratchy voice anywhere- _Karkat _.__

Not taking his eyes off of the wolf, he watched as the beast stilled, its ears perking at the sound and its attention taken for only a moment.

That was the only moment Dave needed.

Dave ran like his life was on the line, full out sprinting like the fucking Olympic track medalist he was; adrenaline was pumping through his veins at the speed of light and although his _everything_ was sore, numb, he didn't feel shit, nothing but the full force of life or death playing tug of war with his fucking heart was surging him to go on. He didn't stop running until he was out of the woods, on the road, and well past Equius and Karkat by five feet, earning an irritated, "What the fuck Dave?" From Karkat, and a raise of the eyebrow by Equius looking only mildly concerned for the out-of-breath and restless teen. "You guys we gotta, (wheeze) holy shit. We need to get everyone and ship out, _right_ now, like no fucking kidding, (inhale) hurry get the others and just hide, like those wolves aren't wolves." Dave stuttered out breathlessly, trying to get his cool back but of course, failing from the exhaustion over passing him.

Karkat looked at Equius with something Dave couldn't recognize, then turned back to Dave with a serious look, "Dave, let's go back down to the others... I think we all need a fucking break."  
Dave stared at Karkat for a moment and ran a hand through his now windswept hair with an hidden nervousness and irritation, "No Karkat listen, I know it sounds weird as fuck, but I swear to god I saw a wolf and it talked. Fucking stared straight into my eyes and talked."

"Your fucking _shitting_ me."  


"Hell no man, I swear."

Karkat traded another glance with Equius who just shrugged, "I think Strider, is probably e%hausted from all that he has gone through, only the STRONG minded should be searching for their given tasks, I suggest him to be e%cused from this task. And the chances of wolves talking is an preposterous idea in itself."

Dave gritted his teeth and turned his mouth into a thin unrwable line, "I'm not lying, he was just over there," Dave turned around gesturing to the patch of woods by the road.

"Fine, Dave what did this wolf say? This better be good." Karkat glared, his eye twitched and Dave could tell that he probably was pissed by this whole situation.

"Well... Uh, right, it said something like 'motherfucker go back down in the ditch or die by the alp-ha's(?) Order or some crazy shit like that... Yeah that sounds, wow."

When Dave looked back at Karkat it looked like he was going to blow a fuse, veins popping out of his forehead and all, his brown hair ruffling from all his fury.

"That's IT. _That's_ what you fucking have to say? You asshole, did you fucking smoke all your problems away back there in those trees on its sap? Do you have _any_ damn shit-eating ideas how _scared_ we all are, many of us are already wondering if our siblings, other family members, and even friends will _ever_ fucking wake up alive- and then your disappearing into the fucking woods while we're trying to grip on any hope we have left of _anyone_ coming to save us from this field trip gone fucking horribly wrong. You feel better now fuckface?! Are you fucking getting off on this?"

Karkat practically started screaming the last part breathlessly to Dave, who already expected his inevitable breakdown, but nevertheless it still hurt Dave to know that Karkat felt that way.

Equius put a sweaty hand on Karkat shoulder in an attempt to comfort the outraged boy. "Get your fucking hand off me. Dammit Dave do you fucking understand now, these stupid jokes and shitty farces need to stop, for everyone's sanity , for _your_ sanity."

Dave took in a deep breath, he knew what he hand to say next it was only simple, it'd only be the truth.  
"I saw a fucking talking wolf Karkat,I'm as serious as I can be and I'm also fucking freaking out, I'm sorry if I sounded misleading to you, or if you think I'm a damn liar- actually I'm not fucking sorry, since no one believes me and its urgent."

Karkat clenched his fists, "We're going back down and your coming with us, I think the crash banged your head up more than I thought was possible...", Karkat hissed. And before Dave knew it he was being dragged down the hill by Karkat, with his grip a little tighter than Dave had liked.

When they arrived back into the clearing not too off by the bus, Karkat was a bit breathless and worn out, he pushed Dave forward, towards were he guessed Rose and Kanaya had gathered all the supplies into a pile. Dave scanned over the pile with a bitter feeling in his chest, backpacks, lunchboxes, some blankets, and sleeping bags sat cluttered into one big pile- things that had belonged to their fellow classmates- the very classmates who didn't make it. He looked up to see Rose sitting next to Kanaya, resting her head upon one of Kanaya's shoulders with a pained look on her face, while Kanaya looked sullen and distantly stared off into the forest; they had gone back into the bus and saw what had happened before Dave dragged them out earlier. Dave knows that Rose had a good look of the accident, and she had held a calm demeanor, but her iron wall could only stand for so long until it would crumble from all of the growing stress. And Kanaya- he couldn't really read her feelings, Karkat probably could though, if he wasn't so distracted with the annoyance directed right at Dave. Dave arose from his thoughts and back in to reality when Karkat pushed him again, now attracting Kanaya, Rose, Eridan, and Nepeta's wary attention.  


"What happened did you see anyone up there?" asked Kanaya.

"No Karkat answered.

"Wwhere there any cars on the road? any sign of any fucking rescue?" Eridan questioned as he adjusted his glasses. "Nope." Karkat scoffed

"Dave you look exhausted... Are you alright?" Rose said looking up. "No he's fucking not." Karkat answered before Dave could open his mouth.  
"E-Equius, I'm...I'm so glad that your okay..."Nepeta said running into the bigger boy's arms.  
Karkat gave everyone another soft glare as they all quieted down, "No sign of shit, looks like the rescue team we're expecting is either lost, or not on its way at all and if that's it, then we're fucking stranded shit deep in the woods. Also where's the, 'Shitty-Phone-Find' team?" He asked as he looked around.  
"Well I'm paw-sitive, they prowled deeper into the scary woods after Dirk furound a signal coming from his phone, then they started tracking it, about an hour ago." Nepeta said. pouncing next to Equius and giving him another big warm hug.  
"I see, and the adults?"  
"Horuss had woken up about at the same time they left, and hes currently looking at the bus with Cronus who stumbled over here a couple minutes ago- then Coach Noir woke up and went to go find Dirk and the others- we couldn't stop him- he said he wanted revenge, he was pretty lost when he saw Miss Paint. I'm sorry but Kankri, Porrim and Meulin haven't woken up yet and Miss Paint wasn't... breathing anymore when we went to check on her..." Kanaya barely whispered, her jade eyes glistening with comtempt.  


Dave looked up from his rather uncomfortable spot on the barren ground, watching Kanaya's expression harden as she glanced at the three unmoving adults lying on the ground beside her in the cover of the shade; they looked so peaceful in their slumber, everyone knew this could well be their last nap and no one thought to wake or even touch the fragile bodies, they were scared as if they'd turn into dust. And Miss Paint died, he felt his heart sink a little further, he couldn't believe he was just with her earlier

"Its not your fault- its nobody's..." Karkat said grimacing.

Rose got up from her place with a concerned look, and Dave frowned, he now gave her a good look-over in the diming sunshine, as funny as it sounded she looked withered and grim. Exhaustion had taken its toll on her as well on everyone else, her usually well-kempt makeup and hair, was smudged and frazzled, only faint traces of her trademark black lipstick was left upon her chapped lips in smears and she looked deathly paler than usual, the fair girl was still beautiful, still sharp, yet _so_ broken and worn.

Dave quickly wondered how he had looked- probably much, much worse.

"Wwait, then if someone's coming here to fuckin savve us soon then wwhy are you chumps down here, aren't you supposed to be up there to stop any cars? Already givvin up Kar?" Eridan asked, eyeing the three boys like smashed bugs.

"No you whiny bastard, we came down here so we could rest, since some of us are losing our fucking minds..." Karkat muttered looking away from Dave.

"Pardon but, losing your minds?" Kanaya asked with a small yawn and a stretch to stand up.

Karkat rolled his eyes and waved a hand at Dave tiredly, "The bastard hasn't let go of the whole wolf fiasco, he came running to us, spewing shit about one fucking talking to him, I think he just hit his head too hard in the crash earlier, because its starting to sound like he believes half the shit he says." Dave roughly dug his nails into the palms of his numb hands, looking down at the primary-colored fall leaves at his feet and finding them _extremely_ interesting. Rose looked from Karkat to Dave with her dim plum eyes scanning him for any break in his façade, there was none of course.  


"No, I- I know what I saw damnit, I know it sounds crazy, but I swear Rose I saw a fucking huge wolf up there, and it told me something- it wasn't like a, 'How was your fucking day, sunshine?' conversation, it was more like a 'i'm planning to murder you and it'll be fun' conversation... Its okay if you don't-"  


"I believe you Dave." she quickly replied eyes fixated on him with a gleaming seriousness.  
"You do? I mean why..."

"As friends- no as family, I put my trust in you David, as unlikely as it sounds, I'd also had my doubts and fears from the moment we came out of that bus, I've had the constant feeling that we are being, _watched_ by someone". Dave was left tired and dumbstruck at Rose's assumption. If they were being watched, first why? Second, if some one _was_ watching them why not help them? After all they did just _fucking_ crash hours ago and needed urgent help. Unless that someone was the some _thing_ he encountered earlier. 

Now that he thought about it, the wolf told him to wait- but for what?

"I get why you believe him even though it sounds fucking ludicrous..." Karkat trailed off as he stared behind Dave and Rose with his eyes widening and his mouth gaping a little "-Look!" Karkat pointed and Dave curiously spun around, his eyes trailing up the hill and onto the edge of the road where a sheen black van ominously drove down the hill and rolled to a stop in the clearing followed by two others behind it. Before Dave could even blink. a tall woman clad in a black suit and fedora hat stepped out, her eyes looking keen and almost alert.

Many more of the black-suited men spilled out of the vans with a quick smoothness and some appeared to be grabbing medical equipment while others started the trek down the hill escorting the fair woman leading in swift strides. This wasn't any figment of imagination- they were real- they were the only hope they had left. The woman who Dave guessed to be the Big Cheese in charge barked out orders left and right to her lackeys, Dave couldn't hear what she was saying exactly since she was a couple of feet away but it seemed important and urgent. "Are they the rescue team?" Nepeta breathed, eyes widening and brimming with joy and Equius nodded, "I believe so."

Karkat visibly relaxed, slumping down to his knees and his whole body shook with what Dave presumed to be happiness, "Oh my fucking god, hell yes- we can go home _finally_." Karkat whispered and Dave responded to Karkat, not taking his eyes off of the newcomers for a second- something seemed _off_. "Are you crying man, you need a shoulder to weep on?" Dave teased feeling a bit better about the prospect of being saved, "-Shut up Strider I'm... I'm not fucking crying." But Dave swore he had heard a couple of loose sniffles here and there though, but in all honesty this hell was over- they could finally go home, rest, and put this nightmare aside, maybe cry about it when no one was watching.

Dave almost laughed, _haha...ha_ , yeah right, like that was going to happen. Cronus shoved past Dave with a hopeful look on his face and was the first to approach the leading woman who was still talking to one of her subordinates "Your the rescue team wwe've been wwatin for- right?" Eridan said with a look of light and trust in his eyes.

Dave knew that they were safe and probably in good hands, but he hesitated to trust them, The woman's subordinates seemed like thugs- most of them _looked_ like thugs. Dave scanned the crew of escorts behind her and he swore he saw one of the little imp-faced men chuckle at Eridan's hopeful words. Maybe he just had a sick sense of humor and nothing more- Or maybe it was just a figment of his imagination when he saw their sharp-toothed grins gleam with something wicked and _sick _. That reminded him.__

 _ _"Correct, our superior was contacted that a Skaia High school bus had gone missing and so we searched the reported missing persons, now that we've found you we'd like you all to come with us to Derse headquarters where we can treat your wounds, we must go _immediately_." The tall lady beckoned to her subordinates and they quickly brought out stretchers and lifted the unconscious adults onto them and into the black van.__

 _ _

"Derse? what the hell is that?" Karkat asked, raising an quizzical eyebrow.

"Derse is a special organization made to help those who get stranded out here. And as workers of the organization we watch over and protect the mountain and everything on it." she automatically replied professionally. It appeared that she had answered these types of questions before. She had femininely voice, it sounded like she was trying to sound calming but it rather sounded more forced than intended. Dave felt a faint shiver down his spine, although she sounded neutral and rather considerate towards the group something seemed off about her. Now, with her closer, Dave evaluated the woman. She was dark-skinned and her eye's irises where a dull gray that blended a little too well with the whites of her eyes. All her features were sharp and her hat covered her dark and presumably short hair.

This time Cronus grinned, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and pushing past everyone to face her, "Wvill you help Kan an the others, you can do that right?"

"Yes indeed, now please cooperate with us so we can get you to safety. We are here to _help_ you all. You must've gone through such traumatizing things."

"What about the police? Why didn't they come?" Rose questioned as she struggled to stand up, leaning on Kanaya for support, "I've never heard of this Derse Organization."

"The police usually aren't adept in recues like these, we were specifically trained for this and our organization was founded not too long ago, not many have heard of it." She replied impassively. "My mother is apart of the town council and she's never told me anything of the sort." Rose spurred on, her plum eyes narrowing. "As I said before our organization was newly founded we barely have enough records to be watched by the town, and your mother probably kept it from you, children should never know too much." Rose stared at the woman for a long moment before asking, "What's your name?"

"I apologize, but I'd like to keep that information confidential, my predecessors call me Snowman, if that is acceptable I want you too, to refer to me as that."

Rose nodded and looked away from Snowman's eyes. Dave looked in-between them, sensing that the air was tense and a bit awkward, so why not liven It up a bit?

"Say, Snowman- you said that you work in these mountains right?" Dave asked looking over his shades. "Correct."

"Then you know about the wolves?" Dave deadpanned.

"That's classified, I'm sorry but this discussion is no longer relevant, Deuce please escort..." "Dave my name's Dave Strider." Dave said slightly annoyed by the answer she gave him.

Snowman finished, "Please take _Dave,_ to one of the vans and then tend to his wounds." She was hiding something and Dave _so_ had to find out, curiosity killed the cat, but it wouldn't kill this badass Strider. He was going to figure out what those wolves exactly were, why they attacked the bus in the first place. And when all this shit blew over he'd be chilling at home with a cold AJ, his shitty swords, and act like nothing happened- it sounded good to him. At least it did then.

Dave felt a tug at his shirt and looked to the small man by his side, "S-sir the van is waiting for you..." Dave blinked, oh right, he was supposed to be transported to this Derse place- shipped into the hands of grabby doctors like the fine goods he was- He guessed he was due for a medical checkup before he went home. He thought 'why didn't he just go to the hospital', but he guessed it had something to do with being in the mountains about three hours away from town. besides, seeing the condition his arm was in, he saw the appeal of having a 'Organization' of some sort having a hospital within it nearby, but he'd have to be a gentleman and decline since he had other plans, "What? Sorry dude, but, I can't just leave without Dirk, Roxy, Sollux and Coach Noir- (even though coach hated Dave's guts and probably wanted to _stab_. him)- I'll just wait, they should be coming back soon, the doctors can wait till the whole package is complete before they ship me off."

The man flinched, probably not expecting that answer, he quickly glanced around and Dave followed his gaze, Dave's friends were all being escorted in those vans themselves and everything seemed alright, he didn't know why this one guy was so skittish in particular, "Listen s-sir, you don't have a choice, whether you want to come to Derse or not... it's _unavoidable_." He whispered to Dave tugging him away from the others, "What do you mean unavoidable? I get that you guys take the whole medical Schtick seriously, I mean if I stuck a needle up someone's ass I'd act professional about it too, but my bro, sis, nerd (asshole) friend, and gym teacher are still out there- and so are those monster _wolves_."

"I get that your friends are still out there- but I seriously mean that Snowman wont let you go, we're not even doctors- we're just following orders. Besides...your friends were taken by the Prospit Pack." Daves eyes widened. _What? _if they weren't medical doctors then who were they, and why were they taking him and his friends. And Dirk and the others were taken? Who the fuck was Prospit? "I need to fucking get to them, like hell your taking me to this place-" Dave said as he slowly walked back towards the trees eyeing Deuce.__

"Dave what's troubling you?" Dave looked to his right see Rose looking back at him, and he could feel the glances of others watching, "Rose we need to get the fuck out of here, these guys aren't even doctors-Just some shady organization shoving shit in our heads- Dirk and Roxy are in trouble!"

"Dave what are you spouting they're helping us-" "No they're not dude, they're been hiding this whole time probably."

"Is this true?" Rose demanded at Snowman, who just glanced at the girl straight-faced, "Hurry inject the drugs, and put them in restraints, I'm sorry miss Lalonde but that is also classified."

"Drugs?!" Equius yelled before a syringe was injected to the side of his neck and he slumped, eyes drooping. "Yes I'm afraid so, we cannot allow you to try to fight back besides this will prove to be forescorting you to the facility."

Before Dave knew it he was trying to be held down by two big imp-faced agents- of course he put up a fight- Dave was flexible, light and fast- like hell these brick houses would ever catch him, over the years of strenuous rooftop battles and smuppet avalanches Dave had developed a sixth sense keen against bullshit and badassery, he was trained to fend against guys like these anyway, although he didn't have his sword, he would just make do with his fists and legs, for asskicking and flashstepping. Learning how to flashstep from Bro had been one of the most useful things he needed right now. Although Dave was prepared to fight, the opponents were quite different than he thought, when he managed to knock one of the brutes over the burly man's hat fell off his head and Dave glanced up to see two pointed,wolfish _ears_ sitting perfectly on the top of his head- and they were _moving_. Dave froze, this man clearly wasn't human.

Dave was stuck in a daze until his predecessor let out an inhuman growl and Dave's brain went into overdrive telling him to _"run"_ and _"escape while you still can!"_ and he stepped back, but before he knew it the man lunged at him with incredible speed and Dave could feel the impact of the man's huge and rough hands grab his neck and harshly pin his body against a tree. Dave could feel the branches rattle from the slam and he could taste the blood gushing from where he bit his tongue and he felt like he was going to choke. "Fuckin kids should learn their place, Derse is going to eat you alive and then spit you out like the shit you are boy." the larger man seethed, his sharp fangs jutting out like knifes, Dave struggled but the hand only clamped down tighter around the boy's neck and he was suddenly feeling dizzy and sore everywhere. He didn't want to die- not from some wolfish man with a hand on his windpipe- not with his friends watching. He glanced over to his friends- thank Christ on a cracker that most of them were unconscious, probably by the 'drug' Snowman talked about earlier the only ones who were still awake were Karkat, Rose, and Kanaya.

"STOP IT! Don't you _dare,_ fucking touch my friends, you lying _bastards _-" Karkat incoherently shouted, as he was being held down by the other agents and something clear was being injected into him with a syringe at his neck- "D-dave, it'll be alright..." Rose murmured slowly as she fell unconscious, along with Kanaya soon after- shit this was Dave's fault, he could of seen this coming right at him. the signs from the wolf and the suspicion he had about the Organization, they should of ran at the first chance they had- maybe it would of been better.__

Snowman quickly stepped forward, " _Droog_ your losing your self-control, remember we can't kill the greenhorns- that's not why we came here." the man grunted, letting go of Dave and letting him slip down the trunk of the tree with a thud. Droog then walked away slipping his hat back on his head and shoving his hands back in his pockets while glaring at Dave- who was still processing what had just happened, he felt like shit. Snowman leaned down with a syringe full of crystalline colored liquid staring right into Dave's eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" Dave slurred, wincing at the taste blood in his mouth with distaste, "Derse isn't going to manage itself- these sacrifices are for a better cause, I think you'll enjoy it Dave- Being a Dersite."

"Bullshit, your using the word 'sarcrafice' as an excuse for whatever strings your pulling behind the curtain- tell me your motives." Dave said feeling his vision fade and his whole body feeling so numb. He was so tired, maybe a small nap wouldn't hurt.

Snowman crouched down in front of him, "You'll just have to see for yourself, but I'm afraid its time to go, by the maybe you'll eventually even get to see your friends again-Dirk, Sollux, Roxy and...Noir? I'll look forward to meeting them, but for now the ALP)(A will be satisfied with you and the others."

Dave _didn't_ feel when her hand picked up his wrist and injected the foreign liquid into his system. He couldn't feel a thing after that- even after he was thrown into the back of a van and was driven to a place where the people were forced into submission and being strong was being everything- a place full of _rules_ he had to _accept_ \- a army as Snowman referred to it. A place run by status, _power_ , and the very witch who did this to them. The very place where he'd be changed, remade, and maybe, just maybe... saved from. Escape was his only option now.

__


	3. Caged Ambitions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Prospit Pack life. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Johnny's POV this time! Sorry I've been really off with this story, I prolly won't update again soon, But I promise I will indeed update eventually! I'm workin on a lot of different stories that I haven't posted yet so bare with me please! I hope you guys enjoy this, it might be a lil' confusing and rushed since my head's a jumbled water-logged mess and its hard to keep focused on just one thing most of the time. But yeah this is happening on the same day as Dave's POV and I'm going to try hard to line them up really soon. At one point there will be either a Dirk or Roxy POV of how they're fairing in the Forest with a bunch of men in black suits on their tails- remember Roxy, Sollux, Dirk, and Coach Noir are totally unaware of the others capture and are wondering aimlessly through the forest for the signal AR picked up. Just reminding ya! Also I apologize for all my errors and unknown muss ups!  
> Anyways please enjoy! I wish you all a wonderful day and please leave Kudos! :B

Approximately three hours earlier- before a certain Strider awoke form his groggy slumber at the Lalonde manor and got ready for the day ahead; hours before a terrible accident would even be spoken of- Another boy was already wide awake, bright eyed and bushy-tailed, quite literally. Another big day was ahead of _him_ and the world looked very different in his bright blue eyes.

The boy's name was John Egbert and he never really had a single care in his small world up till now. He never needed to worry, he was happy within the vicinity of the wide and vast territory of Prospit, on Mt. Bec. He had everything in good order, and he felt in place- his life was normal and he was deemed 'normal'. 

Although he wished his life would flow a little faster. The vast, outside world was calling his name loud and clear- and someday he'd have to spread his metaphorical wings and figure out were his life was headed to. But disappointedly, today _wasn't _that day. He wouldn't be able to leave the territory and would just have to keep his dying patience.__

But right _now_ , he was lounging around with the unlimited free time on his hands. He was slumped down in the really prickly pasture grass, enjoying the quiet time spent waiting for something to happen. He was there with his sister Jane, under a giant, lone oak sheltering them overhead, which occasionally- to John's annoyance- would shed a dying leaf that he would have to swat away, or else it'd land on his head, the whole forest that surrounded the small clearing shed the dead leaves off like they were a disease waiting to be rid of. walking through the undergrowth of the forest had proved to be a hassle when they arrived here, being balls deep in leaves and thorns had always been a pain that came with living in the 'grand outdoors' but it was never nothing that he wasn't already used to.

Now, why were John and a sleeping Jane lounging upon the itchy dead grass in their fuzzy sweaters? Because, both were somewhere within the east boundary of their pack's territory, waiting until their cousin, Jake English, came back from _hopefully_ another successful hunting trip, and boy was he taking his sweet time.

Earlier this morning Jake had insisted that he was going to help catch some extra food for the kitchens- After the last of the food had spoiled when Jake forgot that meat could rot when left untended to- much to everyone's dismay. And everyone was especially sour since it left a rather nasty smell behind. With Jake trying to leave so early in the morning and Jane right up his back about the food incident that he had besieged upon the poor kitchen and its workers, John was rudely woken up by Jane and Jake's bickering about Jake being careless with a week's amount of food being spoiled by his very irresponsible habits. John also happened to overhear some things about there being a meeting of some sort later on in the day and could feel the tension in the room only grow when he walked in on the suspicious two- but having a sleep-logged mind never helped with interpreting things, so early in the morning and he pushed his dulling curiosities away to make to two be quit since, again, it was like six in the goddamn morning. After breaking up the argument about something or another, John decided to tag along Jake's little hunting adventure, seeing as there was nothing else to do, and Jane had her own reasons. Besides he wanted to feel the cool wind on his face again, it really soothed his grumpiness in the cold mornings- Jane had dark circles under her eyes and a contagious yawn, which sadly infected Jake and John- She probably needed some sleep, which in all honesty she deserved, Jane worked in the kitchens 24-7 cooking her life away each night, plus she stayed up late for the night patrol shifts, so that they could get a meal in their tummies. This was a rough, but much needed break.

But anyway Jake ended up leaving them at the lone oak in the clearing so that they wouldn't get in the way of the 'hunt', or some malarkey like that. Jane didn't seem to mind since she fell asleep as soon as they sat down, but John was bore-d, and a bit annoyed being the dead weight that Jake had to carry around, as Jake himself once put it. But meanwhile, in his serene boredom, John just spent his time watching the clouds float around overhead or picked up one of the dead leaves and tried to fold them into tiny people- he had five weird humanoid- _ish_ looking shapes, even one which was folded into a crappy dinosaur attempt. John had so much time, but so little creativity. John occasionally honed in to the calm birdsong that filled the air, drowsily watching as the sun peeked over the trees. John glanced over at Jane seeing her curled against the smooth trunk of the tree; she looked so at ease, and it made him smile toothily, he thought to maybe marker her face with a silly mustache- but silly John as much as an _wonderful_ prank that would be- he knew Jane needed her sleep, pure, and prankless.

John often thought that reason she overworked herself was because she was trying to prove herself to the pack and show that she wanted to make everyone happy. Unlike her, John still had yet to help the pack in some sort of way...

As mentioned earlier, the reason John came out here was to feel the brisk morning breeze and have a nice stroll, and _maybe_ , just maybe get to par-take in Jakes hunt, but like Jake would ever even amuse John with that idea, nevertheless let him touch a gun- or steal his prey, so John sat here uselessly bored. Jane had said she came out to get some fresh air and insisted that she'd wait here with John and help 'Keep watch'- or practically babysit him, much to John's distain. But he didn't really mind after Jake left.  
Besides both John and Jake knew that she was exhausted out of her mind, and probably spent the night before washing the feeding cabin's dishes, like she always did- _if_ one of them didn't shove her out of the kitchen first.

John sniffed the cool air as the chilling breeze wrapped around the tree and past himself, bringing new smells and sounds from upwind. He could smell the dying grasses, the thick smell of pine from the forest, the stink of mud, faintly Jake- which was hard to differ- and sweet fresh scent of blood- not Jake's thankfully, whatever it was, it seemed appetizing enough. John was also reminded of his sister Jane's soft, beta scent- which reminded him of, vanilla icing and, clouds? As weird as that seemed, the smell was vividly descripted in his mind, but the scent was, just so, Jane. John sighed; before two months ago John would of raised an eyebrow in wonder at someone who said they could smell something from about a mile away but now he totally understood, when John was younger he didn't quite understand when his father told him about the pre-presenting- basically the puberty of their 'kind', mixed in with animalistic instinct and behaviors- but about two months ago he was hit hard with all of his awakened buzzing senses. At first John didn't feel right, he was extra sensitive to everything and he didn't get quite used to it until a week had passed, after that everything fit into place and he felt much more _natural_ and a bit more aggressive than he liked, but he grew up with others who had to go through the same thing, so it was pretty a natural experience. Also it wasn't even over- he would _really_ change on his upcoming birthday.

Oh _right_ , he had forgotten to mention! He and his whole pack were, and always would be, WEREWOLVES- yes that's right, bask in that for a moment. His people were known as ancient mythical creatures to humans- but in all truth, many of the facts humans had about werewolves were pretty outdated- and totally tampered with, half of the bullshit said around the world was ironically true or a lie. Being a Werewolf wasn't a curse to him since he was naturally born like this, John was a 'Pure Blood'- someone who wasn't bitten but rather inherited the blood of his kin- John, in a sense, was a complete werewolf, since he inherited both of his parents pure blood the natural way- Birth, but that didn't mean he didn't have his human appearance.

But being born a werewolf and being 'turned' into one didn't mix with the traditional ranking system all werewolves had. Rank depended on the pheromones and hormones a werewolf could secrete and seemed like the only way to determine who would submit to, or dominate one other, and the whole system was more of a instinctual and universal wolf law than anything else and it stuck like glue to all of them. That's why having another pack even remotely close to his could ask for all kinds of problems, and that's also the reason why many werewolves live in secluded camps like these- John even sometimes thought he couldn't tell the difference from instinct and his true thoughts, shit could get fuzzy and temperamental. His pack had always been the biggest and strongest, since the first day he realized it was the _only _pack, but everyone liked it that way. No other packs, no problems.__

At least, before the Dersites stuck their nose's in his Pack's well-earned territory.  
John's pack, otherwise known as the Prospit pack, had been living up here in the glade between the forest and Mt. Bec for more than enough years, and his very granddad- Grandpa Harley- was the lucky and strong Alpha who led it. John had lived in the small, camp for as long as he could remember, putting up with his oddball family and his packmate's constant shenanigans, and praise- or scoldings. It was all an excluded and simple life. But honestly, it was just the way he liked it. Everything always puzzled itself out and he had plenty of awesome, nerdy friends. He waited until he too, could present and join the ranks, like the most of them.

Although his life seemed awesome in the small camp he called home- it wasn't like he could leave the territory- at least not until he'd gotten a rank. Plus more downsides of being un-presented was that: 1.) he wasn't allowed to hunt or participate in any rather important or exciting pack activities until he'd _Present_ , and 2.) Everyone treated him like a little kid and made him do the crappy jobs, like cleaning the bathrooms- which in all its shitty glory, sucked.

It would happen in two _long_ months from now. But he couldn't wait- he'd been waiting for this for his whole life, the moment when he'd find his _place_ in the pack and maybe he'd get high up on the ranks like his sister and cousin Jade!  
He wondered if he'd present as a Beta, like his father- and most of his family. His peers and family members often agreed when he asked, and supposedly thought so too, so probably.

Besides being un-presented kind of sucked since his sister and cousins- who already presented- got to go on patrols, hunts with the more experienced adults- and the best part of the whole fucking funfest package: Go _outside_ the territory.

As an un-presented pubescent teen with no rank and no control of anything or anyone, he wasn't allowed to _ever_ leave the territory until he'd earn his place in the pack. But rules were meant to be broken of course- and this rule in particular had been broken many times, and he as well had be caught many times before he could get a good twenty feet away from the border, running like a refugee crossing a countries border with no regrets, sanity, and the fastest legs god could paste on a four-teen year old boy. John grinned to himself, he took a great pride in his quickness, he might've been a bit small for his age, but he could really run when he wanted to- (he was still growing damnit. Gotta give a boy his time.)

But now if he tried to leave the guards would definitely catch him before he would even get close to the border. They had been especially tight around the boundary of territory lately since a mysterious organization who called themselves the, Dersites as mentioned eariler, had showed up. No one knew what they were looking for but from the beginning everyone had a feeling that it was them- hunters weren't common in this age, especially one with such a big group to use at their disposal. This so called 'Derse organization' was creeping closer to the Prospitian territory by each day. So of course John couldn't leave and his previous attempts had been foiled. John was used to being known as the notorious boy skylark who always found a way to slip past the guards shitty defenses, and slip in a few harmless pranks here and there along the way, But he knew everyone was antsy since the ominous people in black suits came investigating the mountain and everything on it.

No one knew where the Dersites came from, and why they came here of all places. They could of just quietly ignored Prospit and it's territory and let Prospit do the same. But no, they were trying to find John and his pack- Completely endangering all the people who had been living up the mountain in hiding, and lately they've been trying to cut off any roads on the mountain leading to Prospit's territory basically trying to cut off all ties with the outside world which the pack occasionally needed. But John's pack had one grand rule that stood above the rest- Never be captured by or 'feral' to a human, and never interact with any unless ordered to- especially with the suspicious ones.

Personally John thought he could sneak closer to their base and see exactly what they were doing and up to, maybe bust in there and give the humans exactly what they were asking for- but he knew his raving teenage instincts were talking on that idea, and it sounded really stupid and fantasied. Besides the only ones allowed to fight back are the Alphas and betas who were either in the Prospit guard and on orders to pursue them and/or leave the territory; Not OMEGAS, and DEFINITLY NOT goofy un-presented teenagers, who are yet to find their purpose within their pack.

But it wasn't like he wasn't curious. He wanted to get to the bottom of this, he absolutely _had_ to. It eat him alive if he left the monster unfed.

John was distracted from his thoughts when he heard faint footsteps from within the underbrush, the sound of the footfall quickening as they got closer to the clearing. The wind picked up along with the noisy someone and a faint shuffling sound came from the bushes across from John and Jane. John unintentionally perked his ears as Jane stirred a bit in her sleep. Usually he wasn't this jumpy and it was probably Jake, right? He could feel the strange urge to growl build up in his chest and he slowly stiffened lowering his head and shifting his onto the balls of his feet in a beginning of a small crouch, his growl was about to show itself and burst louder and clearer to the approaching figure in the shadowy edge of the forest before it showed itself rather sluggishly.

Jake, of course, came out grinning widely like a fool and John immediately relaxed, slumping back down in a slightly embarrassed and confused state- how could he have gone all rigid against _Jake_ \- God what an idiot move John, he totally lost himself there, maybe he should of just stayed home and slept a little longer so he could prevent anymore embarrassing instinctual acts of shame. John knew it was the hormones talking but sheesh- he knew Jake would probably tease him about it later- Wait did Jake even see him like that?

John glanced at Jake standing above the boy in all of his gallivant glory- taking notice to the young buck slung over his cousin's shoulder like a sack of potatoes, covering his rifle that was hooked on his sagging leather belt. His twin pistols were in the shop being repaired if John remembered, Jake would loathe hunting without them but it seemed like today he could manage. John also happened to notice the thick bandaging across Jake's left leg and the slight limp he oh so gracefully tried to hide; John kept smiling and didn't question it, no matter how much he wanted to. Either way it looked like the hunt was successful, figures.

"Hey chap, gaze at the ace I whirled in!" Jake beamed, showing off the toothy smile that seemed to run in the family; Jake trudged forward hopping up the deer corpse closer to his neck with little effort. John rolled his eyes with a grin, ever since Jake joined the hunting reigme he's been swelling with a newfound superiority and ego- One he often tried to test upon John a little too much.

"What was that a rumbling I heard-?" Jake smiled looking around before turning down to face John.

"Bollocks John was that you? No need to get antsy and growl at me, I'm not that annoying." Jake said grinning.

"Uh, no- it wasn't me must've been Jane mumbling in her sleep- it surprised me too..." John said looking away at a tree that looked much more interesting than this conversation. Trying to cover himself with a shitty excuse might've not been the best option but the sooner the situation ended the better. Jake responded by rolling his eyes and, "No need to be embarrassed about it, we all do it by fluke sometimes- especially with everyone being so on edge lately... You weren't trying to challenge me to fisticuffs were you?" Jake smiled walking past John, "If you wanted to show your dominance against me you'd have to lick you wounds afterwards, like heck I'd lose." Jake said making John snort.

"Don't get too full of yourself! You literally just rejoined the hunts with the hunting regime last week." John playfully retorts back blowing a raspberry at Jake's smug face. God he realized he was such a kid sometimes, but it was nice to be free and not so uptight. Jane was now waking up, hazily blinking behind them. "Wah?" Jane muttered, as she sleepily rubbed at her eyes. Jake returned to blowing a raspberry at John as he walked towards Jane, yapping something along the lines of, John, I know your jealous, but please, have some decency and don't be such spoilsport about it"; And also, "Look at it Jane, I got a buck!" John scoffed and was just about to remark back before the buck was suddenly tossed on top of him, crushing his body down with a sickening, fat weight.

He could already hear Jake laughing his ass off, from afar, listening from his not-so-comfy spot on the ground with his new dead companion laying just on top of him. John wined soundlessly, replying to his cousin's laugh with a familiar sarcasm-tinted tone, "Oh I'll remember this when I help clean your guns next time, we'll see who'll be laughing then." John would prank Jake senseless later, he'd make sure.

Revenge smelled like fire-crackers shoved up Jake's prized pistols and missing gunpowder replaced with pink confetti. But Jake was too far away to listen, oblivious to the dark pranking gambit meter pointing right at him.

Jane was now awake, if not a little grumpy. She looked over to John, then Jake, and lastly the lumpy deer that rested upon John's backside, and John frowned a bit as Jane fell into small giggling fits, clearly trying not laugh. Oh well, just another silly beta prank later right? John rolled his eyes and smiled, "I hope its still _fresh_ , you know how Jake forgets." John said slyly smiling at Jake who just winced, probably remembering his accident from yesterday that Jane snapped at him about. 

"Hmm... It'll make a dandy good meal, and maybe I could whip up some cake for a dessert afterwards too!" Jane cheerily replied, and she could practically hear the roll of John's eyes again. She just giggles when John frowns, quietly loathing the idea of the sickly sweet confection.  
Of course Jane wants to bake one, there's never a time when there isn't a cake in their cabin, and he's totally not surprised that her and dad got along, so very well; Maybe too well.  
Jane catches on to John's grimace quickly and bares her rather dull teeth in a playful smirk, "John I know your very picky about confectionaries dear, but it never hurts to at least try to be a teeny-bit satisfied with my baking." Jane coos, although her twitching eye betrays her smile towards John. Jane walks over brushing the dirt off of her black skirt while doing so, John watches as Jane walks over and lifts the hefty buck off of the boy with a tug with both arms, showing the strength she had inherited from their father that had awoken from her presentation, or maybe she was always just this strong? John awkwardly laughs, saying, "Y-yeah, sorry, and thanks."

Jane gives him a genuine smile as she walks ahead of Jake leading them out of the clearing. John knows that he should _never_ get on Jane's bad side. The last time that had happened was when Jake had called her on her last birthday, nagging her about his 'problems' and low-self esteem, forgetting to even come to the party in the first place. Jane had a absolute outburst, she tried to gouge out his eyes with a spoon, and had quite the menacing look upon her face saying, fuck with me and die.

That day John had to hide Jake in his closet like a fugitive escaping a war, or otherwise, from Jane's ultimate wrath. John jumps up and flicks yet another dead leaf out of his messy hair and closes out the memory, "It's not your baking that I don't like Jane, it's the mix's; Not my fault if all the cake mix you guys have suck, besides Betty Crocker is disgusting." John blows a silly raspberry at Jane and she just giggles even more, "Fine John, I'll look for another cake mix brand when I go shopping in the town again- but, for now, you'll have to deal with what we have, since we can't go into town again without granddad's permission." She sighed and handed the deer back to Jake who gladly took it back.

John's chest constricted a little at her words, damnnit he was never this sensitive why did it bother him now? "We...Right," John breathed trying to get over his sudden depression. He understood his privileges, but it still didn't stop everything from sucking.

Jane was a beta and apart of the maintenance crew- often, when little prey was caught and the winters were especially harsh, they'd go into the town four hours away from here to buy products such as, blankets, food, and usually extra clothing for the ever-growing pack. Sometimes they even would bring back requested items such as movies, candies, and books- bought with the money they got from occasionally selling deer meat and skins to the locals. John was often the first to make a request when Jane and her staff went out into the town. Someday he'd be joining them! With Granddad's permission of course.

Although Jane was three years older than John and had already presented long ago- to be the polite and spoon-loving beta she was; Jane not only got to leave the territory and forest but also got to interact with humans. Although she was doing it to just get more supplies, it's dangerous for a werewolf to interact with humans- it wasn't impossible, just a small taboo- besides it'd never hurt to maybe befriend a couple, John betted that he could handle living in human society, maybe they all could if everyone looked past their differences and urges.

John snapped out of his deep thoughts again when he caught Jane giving him an sympathetic smile, quickly catching on to John's mood Jake quickly sputtered, "Don't worry chap, your time will present itself soon! Just you wait, as soon as you present we'll give you the grand tour of the outside and have restless gallivanting adventures!" John smiled widely the cheery enthusiasm already taking effect Haha, right! must've been the odd feeling that just overcame him in the small moment, wouldn't get to him as easily as that next time, hopefully. Once his time came he'd be able to see new things and meet new people- mainly the humans- he wondered how different they were from his pack...

Its not like John hadn't seen them before- he's watched countless movies (pretty much every movie) with them acting all the time. As far as John could tell both species were pretty much the same, they just didn't have the ears, tail, and mainly couldn't even morph into a werewolves' feral side. Although John had thought it was very odd and just plain weird to not have his wolfish ears and tail- and lets not forget the extra bothersome senses- He was kind of jealous in truth. No worrying about trivial things like dominance, or smelling strange things that he wished he didn't smell, or sometimes feeling a little heated when an Alpha's warm scent drifted into his nostrils and made him want to- No! _No!_ He was not going _there_ of all places!

But anyway, John wanted to explore outside the territory, meet new people that weren't like him, and see everything the world could offer. He wanted to eat new things, learn new things, and see new things. Jake had told him that it was a fool's dream to want to know them, and to trust them or any outsider was outright forbidden by the word of the leader Grandpa Harley and everyone else.

John knew that the world hunted people like them just because they looked or acted different, heck the Derse Organization was a prime example of that, for whatever reason they wanted to capture and hunt John and his family. John also knew that his and Jake's grandmother had been shot by some hunters when they saw her in her feral form, and that Jake couldn't forgive them for what they did. Although his sister did, and his grandfather most certainly did, as the leading Alpha of the pack you could never hold grudges, for the sake of the pack and their own sanity. Vengeance was a powerful thing, it could consume anyone with hate if it was strong enough- If you couldn't fight it back.

John glanced over to Jake, who was now walking ahead of him and Jane with the buck's legs being dragged while the rest of its body laid on top of his shoulder. John wondered how Jake felt now about humans in general; That incident had happened years ago, yet it was still fresh in John's mind of what he saw that day- A young Jake, barely the age of seven, hovering over his grandmother's corpse which was riddled with gunshots. His face burned in anguish, fear, sorrow, and hatred crossed all over his face in one look. John could remember his teary eyes filled to the brim with pain and confusion, the only comfort at the time was his sister's warm hand tightly clutching his as she stood crying and frozen with... fear? Contempt? He couldn't remember- His father's hand was on John's shoulder clenching hard, as if he had forgotten that John too could feel his swelling anger burning down on his numbed limb, he remembered being breathless when he and Jane had followed their father rushing to the bloody scene. John hadn't forgotten seeing the corpses of many mutilated hunters strung about- they had somehow found their way up the mountain and too close to the territory- their bodies were crisscrossed with huge claw marks woven across their torn, rancid flesh- death by Grandpa Harley who was enraged seconds ago. The man quickly held both Jake and his granddaughter Jade, in his big bloodied arms, soothing their cries of pain and loss. Jade was the same as John's age back then- she was terrified and confused like him, and she was also going through shock. She lost apart of herself that day and still would have terrifying nightmares about it for probably, the rest of her life.

John, Jane, and Jake walked for about fifteen minutes through twisting roots and dead leaves, holding their easing silence until they reached the familiar trail they had gone off of earlier. John's ears slowly perked up, followed after Jakes' and Janes' as they all listened to familiar sounding voices coming from the path ahead, "It's the morning patrol coming back from their post." Said Jane cheerfully. Ah, one of the Morning patrol teams, just so happened to be guarding the east side of the territory today, John's smile quickly returns when he thinks of his other quirky cousin who usually leads it, "I'm going to check out if they saw anything!" He glances back to see Jake and Jane glancing at one another with something across their faces that John couldn't read for a moment, but his concern is brushed off when Jake's mellow voice snaps him out of his haze, "Okay we'll catch up later then chum, I'm going to kick the bucket and get some well earned rest after I drop this lug off, waking up so early maybe wasn't the best idea." Jane swatted at the thorn bush that tugged on her skirt flattening it down again, "Mhm, I'm going to help Jake with the food before it goes bad, besides I have to start cooking breakfast with the others soon- oh darn, I'm probably already late- See you later alligator." Jane says quickly while dragging Jake with her towards another path just before they turn their backs on John who confusedly replies, "Uh, okay? In awhile crocodile..." John murmurs and walks ahead of them almost clumsily tripping over a branch before heading up the trail a little further. He could hear Jane slightly call out saying, "Be careful- Don't hurt yourself!" John laughs it off, as his face turns a bit pink in embarrassment, "I won't!" He yelled back, sounding a bit irritated but hopefully it masked the embarrassment wavering his voice. Jake and Jane presumably take a short cut to the kitchen cabin and disappear behind some trees talking about something in hushed tones.

John quirks an eyebrow in question, well that was, weird. Usually Jake had all the energy in the world, him and John would usually hit the cove of the lake and jump into the cooling water howling to the top of their lungs like the nerdy Tarzans they were. Also it wasn't even that late, it was at most- probably 3:30 in the afternoon, must've been one of those days that Jake felt drained- and Jane on the other hand, was _never_ late on her shift, John wondered why she even tagged along in the first place, he wasn't buying the whole 'I wanted to take a nice stroll' excuse- maybe it was to talk with Jake? But about what? John shrugged the rest of his suspicious thoughts off. Even though Jake could practically jump off the walls, he had to get tired too, and maybe Jane really did need a breather with you guys- at least that was one reason he guessed- or maybe Jake was making an excuse to see Aranea? John wasn't blind, he could see that Jake was in deep for that girl, and she was probably aware, maybe she was more amused than flattered, she often knew too much about people.

Finally John came stumbling out of the underbrush to see five familiar figures up ahead, all looking back at him- well not all of them, "I-Is that John?" Said a soft timid voice. "Yep, sure looks like Egbert." Said another. "Hey John!" Oh wait he knew that voice- "Hey Jade!" He quickly replied back as he scampered closer to the girl with forest green eyes and long mass of black flowing hair trailing behind her- Jade was like a sister to John like how Jake was like a brother to him, but unlike Jake, she presented as an Alpha just a month ago and she was one of the youngest kids in the village besides John, but of course she was treated much more _differently_ , being an Alpha and all. Presenting as an Alpha wasn't a common occurrence in John's pack, they were uncommon, and either envied, loved, or, hated by all upon first glance in some sort of weird way. But even so everyone held an candle of respect for them when it came to dominance, it'd be unnatural not to be effected by an Alpha's presence as a wolf.

Now closer to the small group John had a better look at his friends- there was Jade, Terezi, Rufioh, and Latula, the group was smaller than usual, they probably must've split up again, but he had questions waiting for answers and he had his eyes set on his cousin, "So. Did you see anything- unusual today?" John said grinning and Jade rolled her eyes, "No silly! we just saw the usual scenery, it seems like Derse has taken a break- Usually we spot them by the far east side of mountain just looking around with their weird equipment, but, the area's empty." Jade nonchalantly shrugged. "Sorry to interrupt doll, but we can't take forever, look at poor Latula she's starving over here." Rufioh said smoothly and it did seem that Latula's stomach was grumbling in small protests, "Pfft, you can't wait till we get back to camp sis?" Terezi cackled showing off her sharp teeth as she poked at her sister's stomach, "Ugh, rezi stop it, so not cool."

Terezi turned to John's direction and he wasn't surprised, even after going blind her senses were surprisingly sharper than ever, she had presented as a Beta but she had the gall of an Alpha and her fighting skills were something else. "Blueberry here smells like tasty red blood," John visibly squirms as Terezi pushes closer and sniffs him grinning with her sharp teeth. John knows what she's playing at, she always tries to intimidate him and messing around with his head has been a hobby of hers lately. "Jake just threw a deer at me earlier, it's probably that." John muttered as he took a step back and Terezi giggled, "Geez Egbert your senses must be pretty bad if Jake got a hit on you! You really are going to present as an blank-" A loud growl breaks through the rest of Terezi's insult before she can finish, "That's enough, John isn't a going to present as a blank slate Terezi just because he's un-presented doesn't mean you can aggravate him like that!" Jade says and growls shorter this time looking at Terezi in a soft scolding glare, Terezi sighs and makes a pouty face before she grins again, "Okay, okay I was just trying to get a reaction out of him, you should really stop babying him or else he'll hide behind your back all the time." She laughs sharply seemingly unaffected by Jade's show of dominance. Jade just sighs, "Okay lets head back to camp for breakfast- I'm starving."  
**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**  


When John gets back to the camp he admits that his confidence was a bit bruised- he does not hide behind Jade when he's made fun of! Hes a fucking man who can fend for himself- and why does Terezi constantly pick fights with him? He knows that she just wants to show off her rank and dominance over John, but geez- she was in his position once, so why does she have to be so shitty about it? Besides John couldn't present as a blank it was nearly impossible; Blanks were usually the child of a werewolf who _didn't_ inherit any of their parent's 'powers'- So basically a more than sensitive human who could smell and hear things a little better, but that's it- There was nothing wrong with being a blank don't get him wrong- But when your whole family and pack is made up of werewolves, it would probably suck to be different than everyone else you've ever known.

Terezi was just trying to get on his bad side and scare him a little bit before his presenting two months in. Sometimes John wished she wasn't on such good terms with Vriska, one of John's good friends and the leader of the second patrol team, but the two were practically raised in the same home like inseparable sisters, as much as he wanted Vriska all to himself he knew it was a childish and selfish idea, besides the girl was too headstrong. John and the others immediately headed towards the kitchen cabin and he glanced at some of the other smaller cabins cluttered about- Everything in the camp was made out of wood and John thought it could probably serve as a resort, if it wasn't the home of barely under one-hundred werewolves living here. Once hes in the large cabin that serves as sort of a mess hall the smell of breakfast hits him and the others, he almost chokes on the delicious smells that fill their nostrils, "If I don't eat soon I'll die!" Latula says as she pushes ahead of the others towards a line of people waiting for food while Terezi follows right after, giggling at her, "Such a drama queen, but I'm pretty hungry myself." John says as he sniffs, and is that pancakes? After he gets a stack of pancakes and catches a glimpse of Jane in the back talking to one of her co-workers hes practically dragged by Jade to a circular, wooden table beside the others from before and John uses all of his effort to not spill the warm pancakes off of his paper plate.

"So where's the other patrol group?- they're usually here before us." Jade asks as she stabs her fork into her warm pancakes, John pours hot syrup onto his clumsily spilling a bit over the edge of the plate in a sticky mess. "Vriska is probably taking her sweet time out there with her group, its their fault for being late to breakfast." Terezi said pouring heaps of strawberry syrup onto her drowned pancakes- John wondered when she was going to stop, all he could see was strawberry now. "They're doing it for a good cause, I think Vriska's pretty brave!" Jade said and John smirked, "I know you respect Vriska Jade, but, is that a blush?" The messy haired ravenette laughed and Jade swung around trying to whip his face with a mass full of black hair, John reeled back just enough to where only the tips had brushed past his nose. John instantly smells a faint, fresh grass and fruity kiwi scent from Jade- Of course he can smell her scent already, everyone's scent is slowly becoming clearer and smelling the funny things around camp just might be normal. "I mean it John, Aradia and Vriska is working hard trying to solve the problem with Derse!" John slowly recalls what Aradia and Vriska's group was doing along the west boundary for the past week- Oh right, Aradia said she wanted to investigate some of the sites that Derse had searched, plus they were the only Alphas who were given permission to investigate further into the Derse Organization's intentions along with a small collected team. To John it sounded like a top secret mission that was pretty important- well of course it wasn't top secret since he knew about it, but if someone was close to scaring of Derse, it was Aradia and her investigation group. At least that's what everyone wanted to believe.

Just as John brings his fork to his mouth to taste some steamy pancake goodness a loud bang erupts from the cabin's front doors and a man who he doesn't seem to recognize for a moment says, "Vriska's group was attacked!" Jade instantly gets up yelling, "What!?" and Rufioh, Terezi, and many others rush outside to try to catch a glance of her team. John abruptly joins them soon after, wondering if anyone was hurt or what possibly could've tried to attack them- the humans? "Jane Vriska's team was-" John sees Jane and two others shuffling around the kitchen, "I got it John! I'm already on it!"

When John steps outside everyone was already gathering around what he assumed was Vriska's team. His eyes first fell upon Vriska's third in command Tavros who was heavily leaning on another- No scratch that, the other was practically carrying Tav- and his legs looked limp while his forehead had a bloody gash that oozed a thick red liquid. He wasn't the only one who looked disheveled the whole group did, and it seemed like it was cut half in size. "Where's Vriska and Aradia?" Terezi asked sniffing, and Now that John looked around both girls were definitely missing from the shambled group, "What happened?" John asked as he stepped closer and in the corner of his eye he could see someone shuffling past everyone else. Two familiar heads peeked out and John shivered at the look on his Grandfather's face, and John almost choked when his strong scent filled the air and it usually smelled like Burning wood and the sea, but now it was quickly souring into a thick smog. His dad and Grandpa reached the group with Jane and the maintenance crew following right behind with medical supplies. "What exactly happened here, and where's the team leader?" The beaten team looked speechless and battered, the silence was broken when Tavros peeked open his eyes as Jane inspected and dabbed at his wound, "S-she took her, they aren't..." He gasped tears edging at his wide eyes, Jade quickly grabbed his hand and softly cooed, "Who took who, and who's they- You can tell us, your safe now." She said looking softly into his eyes as he uncontrollably shook with raw fear, "She s-said her said that if we all didn't change soon we'd end up dead... it was, V-vriska-" He swallowed and everyone was shocked. Vriska fucking betrayed them?! Why? how could she, John's heart sank, why Vriska, why? "At first, we were investigating some of the tracks left behind by the D-Dersites, and we slowly, uh, followed them back to what looked like a camp... Aradia said that we should go back and inform Chief about the information- and then, w-we heard some one growl and before we k-knew it we were surrounded by the Dersites in black, I was so confused when I felt t-their presence..."

Jade nodded rubbing her hand on his back in soothing circles her scent was probably effecting him also, "Go on, its okay." John didn't know if Tavros was okay, but he knew Jade wasn't, the pained look in her eye and the growing growl in her throat was hard to keep a lid on. Poor Jade, John thought, Vriska was both of the two's really good friends, John grew up with her just like he grew up with everyone else here, he knew she wanted more in life, it was apart of her dream of exploring the world and finding all it's treasures. She had shared those dreams with John just like he shared his with her- but why did she do _this_.

John stood their with a hand covering his mouth and a grim look over his face, when he looked over to Terezi he saw her in her calm state, maybe she knew what Vriska planned on doing this. Maybe she knew about her planned betrayal, the two were always unbelievably close. And if she did without telling anyone John was absolutely going to kick her teeth in. John perked up at the sound of an angered growl, "She fucking betrayed us for a bunch of human hunters? Her own pack! Her lifeblood?!" Jade yelled outraged and Tavros flinched, when she noticed she quieted down a notch. "I'm sorry its just, confusing!? What happened with the humans, how did they do this?" She gestured to the beaten team she softly growled lowering her head. John wasn't just hallucinating, it was really smaller from when they left earlier today, some people were missing.

Tavros almost choked on his own words when he spoke again, "The hunters took them. Vriska did this to me... and f-forcibly took Aradia with her, the hunters _weren't_ human... They... Damnit, I don't even know what they were!" Travos yelled as he curled into himself, up against Jade and cried himself out in front of everyone, feeling humiliated, betrayed, and exhausted. John shifted uncomfortably, this had to be a lie, it wasn't right. and as he sat there in his own space among the crowd, he realized something...

For the first time in John Egbert's life, he absolutely _hated_ Vriska Serket.  
**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Tavros went quiet after pretty much passing out from extreme exhaustion and Grandpa Harley put a hand on Jade's shoulder beckoning her to give him some space, "Medical crew please see to him and everyone else, they've had a long day, we will discuss this in a meeting at dawn." Once Grandpa's loud voice rang out, everyone seemed to calm down quite a bit and John too strangely felt more at ease, but the nagging feeling of Vriska's betrayal made his head burn with rage and his fists feel like they were on fire. He'd never forgive her. 

Many of the injured and curious had left the clearing and it looked like it was going to storm soon with the dark looming overcast slowly trekking across the sky. John turned around bumping into his dad- who was talking with another man about what to do next- he presumed. Although John was curious- he could always ask about it later, "Dad," he started, after the man who he was currently talking to, took his leave, "Yes son, are you alright? There's no need to worry- Is something wrong?" His dad said giving him all of his undivided attention. John couldn't help but shyly smile, his dad was always there when he needed him the most, but right the situation at hand, "What'll happen to Aradia? What will the huma-" Wait that wasn't entirely right now was it? He wanted to believe what Tavros said and what happened- "-um, those _things(?)_ exactly do to her?" John said with concern crossing his features- Of course he was worried, Aradia was one of his friends, and Vriska, well he practically grew up with all the children here-

"She'll be fine John, we'll figure something out son. You don't have to worry this doesn't have anything-" John grimaced, "What are you talking about?! She's one of my friends dad, Just because I don't have a rank doesn't mean... it doesn't mean, I can't help!" John yelled, he was done with this bullshit already, he loved his father but right now he was done with everything. He was about to apologize when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at his father, who was looking at him with utmost concern, "Don't worry son, I have to help with the meeting about these escalating affairs at dawn, and after that we can watch one of your favorite movies with Jane, okay?" His father said softly and John, being the good boy he was, John accepted the terms, arguing with his dad about this wouldn't help.

"Fine." The boy said biting the inside of his mouth, "Good, I'm so proud of you son." His father smiled as he ruffled Johns black hair further into a mess. He was lucky John wasn't as stubborn as his cousins or Jane, otherwise he wouldn't had accepted things so easily- he still didn't feel great about just sitting around while his friends were being watched by Derse, who knows what they'll do, they didn't kill the whole team so they didn't want to exterminate them- so what exactly did they have In plan? And he was still furious with just about everything the world threw at him, he wanted fucking answers for once and not to be babied around like some ignorant kid. He heard an incoming yell from an familiar figure running up towards him before he was heavily tackled to the ground, "Ow, what the hell Jade?" he said as he looked up at her and it looked like she was still furious- but also she looked like she was... sniffling? must've been a trick to his eyes. "Shut up, it looked like you needed a hug!" She said as she squeezed his side, "Is Tavros okay?" John asked with uncertainty as they both got up and Jade slightly frowned, "I would like to say yeah- but, he's really not. Vriska had pushed him off of a small cliff while the chaos was unraveling- his spine was damaged and he's paralyzed from the hip down, John I don't know if I can..." She said her face growing more pained as she looked away from your curious eyes, "Shhh... Jade, no need to cry it's okay! I'm sure Tavros will get used to, that... soon, and we'll be there to support him right? Besides Vriska has always been, different, I can't say she won't be punished. If we have to we'll convince her to come back- maybe she'll be accepted back into the pack, she's still our friend after all!"

Jade sniffled and then smiled, elbowing John in the stomach making him wince and cough a pained laugh, "I'm not crying John! Besides I really doubt Vriska will be taken back into the pack after what she's done... Also John don't talk to me as if your apart of this! You know the rules, I'd never let my younger cousin run into this mess when he hasn't even morphed into a wolf yet!" Jade said as if she was scolding a kid and John rolled his eyes, "I'm only younger by a couple of months! And I'm glad I'm probably presenting as a Beta, Alphas are overrated!" 

Jade laughs and raises an eyebrow, "You're overrated! Besides who says you'll present a Beta?" She playfully growls and shoves him as they start walking down a familiar path, "I... I don't know what I'll be and now that I look at it, it's pretty scary to know that just in two months, I'll have to go through what everyone else goes through, heats, clouds of obnoxious scents and Pheromones, maybe even a shitty temper, its going to suck like hell." Jade doesn't say anything, there's already so much on her mind, John immediately feels guilty about everything he's said, she's been dealing with it longer than him and the whole Vriska accident mentioned earlier probably isn't helping. Fuck, he's done it now. John quietly sighs, why couldn't he had just been born a human?

John and Jade had decided to walk back to John's cabin in a morbid silence, they both felt sour at the moment and it had been a fucking long day for the both of them, seeing as they've both lost two friends who could as well be dead, while their pack was currently debating whether they were going to do anything about it. As soon as they entered the plain residence John called home, it quickly started to downpour outside and lighting struck while thunder loudly cackled. Strangely Jane wasn't home, but John took no mind to it, she was probably at the meeting hopefully urging on the idea of fighting back- at least that's what he would've done.

The thunder loudly boomed outside as Jade and John were immersed in an intense game of Janga with the constant lighting outside providing as their only light. The power was out before they had even arrived, which was a normal occurrence in the camp and John didn't bother to whip out the candles since playing Janga in the dark seemed much more difficult and amusing, of course Jade huffed at the idea and shuffled in one of the cabinets to find a lighter and candle. Out of the many things John could've been thinking about he thought about his suspicions about Jake and Jane's behavior from earlier, something was definitely off about them. "Say, has Jake been, uh, acting weird lately?" John asked, carefully sliding the small wooden brick out with a clumsy precision and once it was out letting out a breath of relief that he didn't know he was holding. Jade giggled as she watched him sigh. She lighted a candle beside her, "I guess, I mean he's been going out a lot more lately, to who knows were." Jade shrugged as she prodded at an easy loose block, sliding it out, "Lately so has Jane its like they're hiding something from us." John moves a loose block too much before it crumbles down and John groans slumping into the couch behind, "Maybe your being too paranoid lately?" Jade says with a smirk as she flicks a block, making it skitter across the table, "But Jaaaaade, I swear Jake even refused to hang out with me at the cove earlier saying that he was tired or something like that! And you know Jake- He's restless and annoying like you." John whines and Jade proceeds to try to hit John by throwing incoming Janga blocks, "I'm not annoying! And I'm pretty sure your just making up excuses to kill your boredom John!" Jade retorts, biting back a soft growl, "No I swear-" The door clicks and they both instantly turn towards the sudden sound, John can hear familiar voices right outside the door down the hall and its- Jake? Jane?- He's suddenly struck with an idea.

John quickly grabs Jade's arm, blows out the candle, and rushes towards the closet door before they're seen, "John, what the hell-" Jade hisses as he pushes her first into the closet then squeezes in beside her, shuffling around some dusty boxes in the process but otherwise fitting snug beside her, "Shh Jade! Just trust me here, I want to try something." When Jade looks like she's about to protest he covers her mouth with his hand and gestures to be quiet with one finger up to his grinning mouth, Jade just rolls her eyes and glares at him and it looks like she'll cope for now. Jade bites down on John's hand and he barely holds back a curse, when he turns to glare she just looks away at a hanging coat and ignores the mildly pained boy. John can now hear their sibling's footsteps echo louder and they must be in the living room because he can see their shadows flicker once someone relights a candle again. Of course he feels silly, its almost like he's some spy collecting info hiding the musty closet squeezed up against some old boxes and a scraggly mop just threatening to fall and make a horrible clattering noise. Damn this mop and the small amount of space both he and Jade has, they're movements might be restricted but at least they can peek from the small crack of the open closet door and that's really all they need. Both bright green and shiny blue eyes peek curiously through and both can barely make out the words of the two Betas conversing in the living room.

"...Jake what are we going to do? they actually caught one of _us_ this time! The problem is only getting riskier if we just wait around and let them do this-" Jane barely shouts and you can see her shadow practically walk in pondering circles, "I know, but it not our fault! I didn't think that they'd go this far, weren't the humans just enough? Oh Bollocks, we should of told Granddad from the very beginning-" John briefly meets Jade's confused gaze and they both feel the same thing, John wonders what they are talking about and who is 'they'?.

"No! No, we won't tell anyone but the others who already know! Remember that's what we all agreed on, even Aradia vowed. We can handle this ourselves, Derse has finally crossed the line- and Vriska... It was never her business to begin with." Jane said bitterly, and so many questions exploded in John's brain it was hard not to get up and just yell at them to spill. They knew something about Derse that they had to hide from the whole pack, and there were others who also knew, including Vriska- the backstabbing traitor- and Aradia. John was about to get up and fuck up the whole hiding plan and start demanding answers, before Jade had put a firm hand on his shoulder to stop him. When he looked at her she just swung her head side to side urging him back the hell down. This secret was going to be the end of him and he already knew it.

"Okay I'll pesterchum the others to meet us tomorrow to figure out a plan to save Aradia and some of the others who are stuck at their headquarters, I can't stand knowing that innocent people are being treated like this, you know how they get their subjects Jake so please-" Jake cut her off, "I might dislike humans but I won't just sit around on my bum to allow this when it involves some of our people, I don't know what we're exactly going to do, but I'll go and give Derse a piece of my damn mind alongside my best friend!"

The agreement had long ended about an hour ago along with the pack meeting, and both Jade and John had snuck out of the cabin from the back door quietly while Jane was baking and Jake slouched on the couch to watch a movie. John sat on the damp porch, feeling cool wind ruffling his and Jade's hair as they swung their feet from the railing's edge, everything was wet from the storm that ended earlier and John felt confused and he felt like he really didn't know anything about what was going on in his own pack. Jade had checked her phone and Terezi had told her that the meeting had wrapped up with the final conclusion of doing nothing and basically doing shit about Aradia's capture and Vriska's betrayal accept for a few minor details. Everything felt bitter and John's mood was edging in the shitty zone. His mood didn't brighten when Jade started up a conversation just when his mind felt numbly clouded, "John, I think we shouldn't interfere too much, lets wait until we-" John huffed, he couldn't believe his own cousin was telling him to just let it fucking go, "Jade what are you talking about of course we're going to interfere, I might be oblivious but I want don't want this to go on!" Jade just stared at John with something clouding her own thoughts, "Yeah I know... And John your not _that_ oblivious! But how do we even go about this? I mean Derse has been a growing problem ever since..." John thought he saw Jade wince in the corner of his eye but he decided to ignore it, he remembered his father telling him of the times before he was born when hunters appeared more often and the small Organization had warred with several packs and brought many down, now they were aiming for John's pack. _His_ pack. Like hell he was going to let this happen.

"John?" Jade said giving him a small nudge, he could see worry in her eyes but also the hard look of determination, she had an Alphas pride and she wasn't going to back down now as far he could see. John gave her a wide smile, more for his sake than hers, "How about we look at their so called base, if we're going to do this I want to see what Derse is actually up to- we could follow Jake and Jane."

"Sounds risky John."

"It so is. You ready for it?"

"We're so going to regret this." Jade said rolling her eyes.

John's heart constricted, were they really going to do this? And even if they did sneak around the forest and find Derse HQ what then? What was Derse doing to possibly want to get their grubby hands on John's friends, family, and everything he knew?

"We are so not going to regret this!" It was true.

**Author's Note:**

> Phew, this is just the start! :) still more to go!


End file.
